CAN YOU RUN A PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN BETTER THAN THE PROS? CABLE IN THE CLASSROOM PUTS YOU IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT.

Can You Run a Presidential Campaign Better than the Pros?
Free Internet Game Puts You In The Driver's Seat

Visit: www.ciconline.org/eLECTIONS
To Become the Candidate

 

Washington, DC---Frustrated by watching the Presidential campaign unfold? Wondering why the candidates have followed a certain campaign course? Think you can do better?
 
A new internet game, eLECTIONS: Your Adventure in Politics, puts players in the driver's seat running a presidential campaign. The 3-D, high-speed broadband adventure uses interactive tools allowing kids and adults to experience a self-directed run for the U.S. Presidency.
 
Developed by the cable industry's non-profit education foundation, Cable in the Classroom, the game is designed to educate people on the political process and the power of one vote.
 
Each square on the game board will trigger an event that players will have to manage. Players must define a platform, identify key issues, determine which events to participate in, decide how to spend campaign dollars, choose key states to run in, and hold fundraisers.
 
Each spin of the wheel takes you on the campaign trail and into smoke-filled rooms to test your electability.

Every decision a player makes has a different consequence, carrying the candidate to a new spot on the road to the White House or the path to defeat. Watch how strategic decisions play out in polling numbers, fundraising ups and downs and the critical electoral count.
 
Players react to news events, poll results, and negative campaign ads – while gaining a better understanding of the challenges and pitfalls confronting their candidates. Ultimately, the game will show that the vote is the single most important instrument of the public's will.  However, the money raised by candidates is critical to reaching the public with their message.
 
Sidebars to the game, called Digging Deeper -- featuring CNN News segments and History Channel documentary footage -- allow users to browse text, graphic, audio and video content to expand upon the game experience and improve their competency in the game. The side bars offer insights from real presidential candidates via archived news and documentary footage from pervious elections, 20 years worth of campaign advertisements, a look at political conventions and political parties, a focus on the electoral college, insights on how America votes, and attack politics and mudslinging.
 
This broadband demonstration is the second in a series of Cable in the Classroom online learning experiences.  The first, Webby-nominated "Shakespeare: Subject to Change" was released in 2003.
 
"eLECTIONS was inspired by the classic board game The Game of Life," said Sharon Metcalf, director of Special Project for Cable in the Classroom and one of the creators of the game. "The one-or-two player game is both genuinely entertaining and educational – with emphasis on delivering a fun learning experience -- kids can play against parents, students with teachers, users of all ages with a friend or against a computer-generated opponent."
 
To start your campaign journey visit, www.ciconline.org/eLECTIONS.  For more media information about eLECTIONS, visit www.ciconline.org/eLECTIONSmedia.
 

CIC represents the cable telecommunications industry's commitment to education -- to improve teaching and learning for children in schools, at home, and in their communities. This is the only industry-wide philanthropic initiative of its kind; since 1989, 8,500 cable companies and 39 cable networks have provided free access to commercial-free, educational cable content and new technologies to 81,000 public and private schools, reaching 78 percent of K-12 students. CIC focuses on five essential elements to ensure quality education in the 21st century: visionary and sensible use of technologies, engagement with rich content, community with other learners, excellent teaching, and the support of parents and other adults.