Chapter 245: Captain America vs. Terminator (Part 2)

“The American people are very eager to see Captain America and the Terminator debate on the same stage. Now, Underwood has invited Schwarzenegger to debate. If Schwarzenegger refuses, not only will the people of California be disappointed, but people all over the United States will be disappointed as well.”

“By the way, what could be more appealing to audiences right now than Captain America and the Terminator debating on the same stage?”

“The only thing that would attract more audiences than this is a fight between Captain America and the Terminator!”

Not only do TV hosts say this, but TV viewers also feel this way.

As the election of the governor of California approaches voting day, the election campaign has also reached a white-hot stage. The representatives sent by the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are all movie stars, which has attracted the attention of the American people. Serious election campaigns are “boring and long”, and entertainment election campaigns will attract more attention. Voters on both sides are as excited as fans who vote for their idols. Don’t care what Bush in the White House says, let’s all watch the fun of the California election together.

Before Underwood’s candidacy, Schwarzenegger was excellent in public speeches and media interviews, and was able to clearly express his views. His speaking style was also infectious, able to attract the audience’s attention, and when faced with challenges and criticism, he was usually able to remain calm and respond with humor or personal experience, showing strong adaptability. In contrast, Davis was not good at these performances in front of the camera, so he did his best to avoid “competing on the same stage” with Schwarzenegger.

To the surprise of the Republicans, Underwood actually took the initiative to invite Schwarzenegger to a debate. Was he trying to beat Schwarzenegger in his area of ​​expertise? Although the Republicans were quite surprised, in the eyes of the Republicans and Schwarzenegger, avoiding a debate is definitely not a good option. Schwarzenegger is a media + tough guy. How can you make him “fearful before the battle”? Then what advantage do you have? Just surrender.

Captain America and the Terminator finally came to compete on the same stage. The audience was filled with voters and people who were not interested in politics at all and just wanted to watch the show. Their eyes were focused on the two podiums in the center of the stage. On the left stood the burly Arnold Schwarzenegger, and on the right stood Los Angeles Mayor Underwood, who was also a burly man with an upright posture. This Republican candidate used to rely on his personal image to increase his points as soon as he appeared, and even won before the battle, but this time, the images of the two sides were comparable, and they still had the same style, and it was impossible to break his moves.

“Why don’t these two go to the ring?”

“Yeah, yeah, it would be best if one of them wore Captain America’s suit and the other played the Terminator and had a fight…”

The audience in the audience really wanted the two to have a physical fight. While they were muttering, the host had already introduced the rules of tonight’s debate to the audience. After the rules were explained, the debate officially began.

First came the opening statement. Schwarzenegger stepped forward, held the sides of the podium, and said in a loud voice:

“My name is Arnold Schwarzenegger. You may know me as an actor, as the Terminator, but I stand here today as a man with a passion for California. I came to America with nothing but a gym bag and less than $20. But this great country, and California in particular, gave me the opportunity to pursue my dreams. I succeeded, not only in the film industry, but also in business. Now, I want to give back to the land that has given me everything.

California is in a serious crisis, starting with a power shortage, businesses leaving, and unemployment rising. We need a fresh direction, a bold vision, and a leader with the courage to act. California doesn’t need another career politician from the old political system. What we need is a leader who can think outside the box and bring a fresh perspective. Someone who understands how to manage a budget, how to create jobs, and how to attract investment. As a successful entrepreneur, I know how to work within a budget. As an immigrant, I understand the power of the American Dream. As a father, I care about our children’s future and education.

I’m not here to read a beautiful speech. I’m here to solve problems. I’m here to end the crisis in California. Remember, in the movie, I said “I’ll be back”. Today, I want to say to California: We will be back! We will once again become the Golden State that the world envy! Let’s work together to rebuild California’s glory!”

It has to be said that Schwarzenegger’s remarks echoed the sentiments of many people. If it had been Davis instead of Underwood standing here, the Democratic Party would probably have been completely at a disadvantage.

It was Underwood’s turn to speak. He walked slowly to the podium, placed his hands lightly on the surface, and looked at the audience with a sharp gaze. He took a deep breath, remained silent, and continued to remain silent. For a moment, the TV station even thought that Underwood had an accident. It was not until the audience’s mumbling stopped that Underwood spoke:

“Many of you know me as Captain America, but today, I stand here not only as the Mayor of Los Angeles, but as your neighbor, your friend, and a citizen who, like you, cares about the future of California.

Remember the days over the past year or so when we were suddenly plunged into darkness, when our lives and work were disrupted, and when we had to face high electricity bills? It was a difficult time, but it also demonstrated the resilience and solidarity of the people of California. As Mayor of Los Angeles, I saw firsthand the impact of this crisis on ordinary families and small businesses. I saw parents giving up air conditioning to save electricity, even in the hot summer; I saw small business owners struggling to stay open. But I also saw hope – the government did its best to mobilize various resources to serve the people, neighbors helped each other, and the community worked together to find solutions.

It was this experience, this experience of going through this together with you, that made me deeply understand the profound impact that government decisions have on everyone’s daily life. It also made me realize that we need a leader who not only understands the complexity of the problem, but also can solve it in a practical way. In Los Angeles, we took practical action. We stabilized the power supply, improved the grid infrastructure, and increased energy efficiency. We not only survived the crisis, but also laid the foundation for the future. Now, Los Angeles has a more reliable and affordable energy system.

If I become the Governor of California, I promise to expand these visible success stories throughout California!

My opponents say I represent the old political establishment. But let me tell you, I represent experience, wisdom, and the ability to put ideals into practice. In Los Angeles, we are not only solving the problems of the moment, but also paving the way for the future. California does not need empty promises or easy solutions. We need a leader who understands how the system works and knows how to make the right decisions in complex situations. We need someone who can unite, not divide.

“Captain America” ​​represents the ideals and values ​​we share, and as Underwood, I bring real experience and the ability to turn those ideals into reality. In the debate that follows, I will not give you false, empty promises. Instead, I will publicly lay out my concrete plans to explain how we can build a better California together.

Thank you everyone!”

If the speech session can be completely prepared in advance, then the question session and debate session will test the “real ability” of both parties. The host asked questions about California’s budget deficit, energy problems, education problems, environmental policies and employment problems. The debate style of this era is not as low as that of 21 years later, where the level is completely “each saying his own thing”, or just shouting slogans, or waiting for the other party to react. This is just the st century, and when debating, more or less, you still have to have something to say.

This is the part that Schwarzenegger is not good at. If it is a match against Davis, Schwarzenegger still has an advantage, because Davis gives people a negative impression in terms of practicality, while Schwarzenegger, a newcomer, has zero points. Zero points are better than negative points. But Underwood has a positive record in this aspect. Therefore, when Schwarzenegger grasps that “California needs to change and needs an outside perspective (referring to political novices like himself) to bring new solutions.”

Underwood nodded and said, “I agree that change is needed, but change must be based on an accurate understanding of the reality. Let me ask you a question, Mr. Schwarzenegger, do you know what the current education funding allocation mechanism in California is? Do you understand the ‘local control funding formula’?”

Schwarzenegger visibly hesitated, then smiled and said, “I may not know the specifics, but I have a great team of advisors.”

Underwood took the opportunity to say: “Look, this is the problem. As governor, you need to understand these key policies yourself, not rely entirely on consultants. Education policy affects the future of millions of students, and we can’t treat it as a business experiment.”

When talking about the environmental protection agenda, Schwarzenegger was also caught by Underwood because he casually said: “Maybe I don’t have direct government experience, but I believe I can learn and adapt.”

Underwood immediately followed up: “Dear Mr. Schwarzenegger, I appreciate your willingness to learn. However, California is not a laboratory, and our state government is not a school. California is facing serious challenges, and we need an experienced and well-prepared leader, not an intern. Imagine if you need a major heart surgery, would you choose – an experienced heart surgeon or a fitness trainer who says, ‘I can learn and I can adapt’?

Likewise, at this critical moment, California needs a leader who understands government, is familiar with policy making, and has extensive public service experience. As Mayor of Los Angeles, I have proven my ability to lead a large government agency and solve complex public policy problems, such as the energy crisis we just discussed. The people of California deserve a governor who is ready to take office, not one who needs on-the-job training. Because when it comes to our jobs, our schools, our health care, and our future, there is no room for error.

I believe California voters would be wise to choose an experienced leader who has proven he can lead us through difficult times, rather than taking a chance on someone who needs to learn from scratch.”

Chapter 246 “Captain America vs. Terminator” (Part 3)

The battle between “Captain America” ​​and “Terminator” is not just a debate in front of the camera. Behind them, there is a huge campaign team in action. Schwarzenegger vowed to “visit every school, knock on the door and meet with every corporate leader”, but Underwood did not make such a vow. He just asked the corporate warriors to really do it.

At Chief Lin’s command, a large number of players in the US region set out from Los Angeles and “marched” towards those places where the election situation was unfavorable to Underwood. Under the pretext of “everything for election victory”, they took over the poorly mobilized and ineffective grassroots mobilization system of the Democratic Party.

What kind of campaign mobilization activities will these players organize? At first, they will focus on having fun.

Just like the bizarre election campaign of the Communist Party of Ukraine shared by Alexey, a Ukrainian player, they had seen on the forum, these players put on Captain America’s clothes and carried out a series of “Captain America Enters the Community” activities. So, in many places in California, you can see people wearing Captain America’s clothes, leading volunteers to clean up the community, hold charity sales, and “superhero training camps (that is, taking some people to do sports together)”.

Since many players have extraordinary physical fitness, they have shown extraordinary explosive power and endurance in both cleaning and sports, which made many voters who followed these “Captain America” ​​to participate in the event couldn’t help but ask: “Bro, did you really inject super soldier serum like in the movie?”

After these players continued to deepen the stereotype of “Captain America” ​​in the hearts of Californians, they also began to do some normal canvassing activities. As the Universal Group was fully engaged in providing funds, and the players were energetic and highly motivated, the originally shrinking grassroots mobilization system of the Democratic Party in some places was reactivated by them, and a larger volunteer network was covering every corner of California.

Volunteer groups, mainly students and retirees, were mobilized to visit door to door, distribute campaign materials, or organize small community meetings under the guidance of players to help register voters. These players have now become the avatars of “Underwood”. They not only promote Underwood’s policies at these community meetings, but also explain the policies based on voters’ questions (in fact, the players have created a super large file sharing group that summarizes various voters’ questions, and the players just need to answer according to the template).

Although these players sometimes say “nonsense”, most of the time they find standard answers and give voters the answers they want to hear. This face-to-face communication can not only spread campaign information, but also establish emotional connections with voters, indirectly enhancing voters’ identification with candidates. After all, human contact is often more touching than phone calls or emails. Volunteers can directly obtain feedback from voters, understand their concerns and needs, and thus adjust publicity strategies (one of the sources of information collection for Prometheus Data Lab).

But this undoubtedly requires a lot of manpower, material resources and time, which is also the biggest disadvantage of face-to-face communication. Therefore, which communities need face-to-face communication with voters requires the “War Room” to make accurate estimates.

Through data analysis in the “War Room”, voters from all over the country are segmented, and factors such as age, occupation, income, and educational background are analyzed to identify potential supporters and swing voters for the “front line”. For communities and individual voters that cannot be reached by phone and must be visited in person, volunteers often get “suggestions” from the “War Room” before they set off. For example, if the community you are going to visit is mostly young people, you will be advised to emphasize policies on education and employment; for elderly voters, you can highlight their commitment to medical insurance. At the same time, players will also find corresponding question templates in the file sharing group in advance to prepare for communication.

Another strategy is for players to bring volunteers to visit various community organizations, trade unions, industry associations, etc. These organizations usually have high credibility in the community and can effectively influence the political choices of their members. By communicating with the leaders of these organizations, understanding their demands, and reflecting them in the campaign platform, the support of these organizations can be won.

In addition, Underwood and the corporate warriors did not intend to use the grass-roots mobilization system that they had finally built as a one-time tool, but rather to establish a regular network of community liaisons, either by the players themselves or by selecting “opinion leaders” who fit the style of the Universal Group, such as pastors, teachers, doctors, business owners, artists, media professionals, union organizers, senior technical workers, managers of agricultural cooperatives or agricultural associations, and so on.

These people can influence the people around them in their daily lives and become the disseminators of campaign information. Even after the campaign is over, the organization behind Underwood can hold regular meetings with these liaisons to communicate specific things at the grassroots level and listen to their feedback on a certain policy.

In short, before Underwood became the governor of California, the corporate warriors, under the call of Chief Lin (and also under the inducement of mission rewards), began to replace the grassroots system outside Los Angeles bit by bit, using the excuse of improving the efficiency of campaign mobilization, and first gradually replaced the original grassroots system of the Democratic Party.

The grassroots mobilization system can be used not only for campaigning, but also for daily management and other aspects.

Once such a grassroots system is successfully controlled and strengthened, the grassroots people can be mobilized to put pressure on local, state or federal governments to promote policy legislation that is conducive to the growth of organizations and the replication of the people (it is impossible for so many parliaments, large and small, to be controlled by players, and it is not so easy to fill them with people); the grassroots people can also be guided to participate in the “social movements” that forest chiefs, forest managers and corporate warriors hope to see.

There are many benefits.

Is there any successful case template that can be used as a reference? Of course there is, and it is in Los Angeles. Such a successful case template is not only for reference, but also a “card” that Underwood’s team can play next to let the people of California see Underwood’s political achievements. It does not necessarily have to highlight what decisions Underwood made, but can also be told from the perspective of ordinary people in Los Angeles, right?

“Thanks to the fact that I brought the work method of saving and leaving traces at work into the game, now we have endless materials.”

“I also have to thank those brothers and sisters who like to chat, take photos, wander around and experience life in the game. If there are only work records but no stories and beautiful scenery, the effect of this billboard will not be so good.”