Fantasy Congress - Where People Play Politics

Fantasy Congress - Where People Play Politics is an interesting twist on the standard "fantasy" league.  Instead of sports teams where one buys and trades players, you manage a group of senators and members of congress.  They "score" points through legislation, both in sponsoring and cosponsoring, by making "news" and even just by attending for the votes.

Playing Politics Step One: JOIN A LEAGUE

You will join a league of up to 99 other players. You will compete against these players to see who is the best at picking members of congress.

Playing Politics Step Two: DRAFTING

Your team consists of sitting Members of Congress (MCs) from all parts of the spectrum of seniority. The more senior a Representative or Senator, the more powerful they are. For your team, you will draft:

•       Upper Senators- Senators with seniority more than half the Senate

•       Lower Senators- Senators with seniority less than half the Senate

•       All-Stars- Senior Representatives

•       Supporting Lineup- Mid-Range Representatives

•       Rookies- Junior Representatives

You can swap MCs at any time to react to the changing political climate.

Playing Politics Step Three: EARNING POINTS

The Members of Congress (MCs) on your team score statistics by performing their duties. None of this action is simulated or imaginary; every real action your MC takes in Congress reflects in your points daily. We evaluate MCs in the following categories:

•1.       Legislative Success- How well a Member of Congress moves his or her bills through the legislative process. Check out our Legislative Tutorial for more info.

•2.       News- Receiving noteworthy national news can indicate that an MC is working hard to achieve goals valued by the country. Additionally, coverage by local media can indicate that legislators are working on issues important to their constituents.

•3.       Maverick Votes- It takes guts to stand as an individual against the party. If the vote is tight and your MC breaks ranks, they score higher in this category.

•4.       Voting Attendance- Ever since elementary school, absences have counted against you. Members of Congress are also evaluated on whether they show up to do their job.

(Note I just copied this information from their site and found three spelling errors.)

You can join public or private leagues, leagues where you can select any member or where you have to have a "draft" and you have to trade to get the MC you want.  Leagues can even weigh the categories differently.  All in all it's an interesting game to play.

The downside is that there is no general forum system (other than a message board for each individual league) and as a result there is no general interface between the players and the designers.  Otherwise the system is generally reliable.

Perhaps in the fall we could set up a special Gather league?  Would anyone be interested?