Rather than continue to complain about the interface and the dirty cheating AI, this game diary entry is a good time to talk about some things Political Machine does right. Read the more upbeat comments, and details about the campaign during the month of August, after the jump.

As I mentioned at the outset of the campaign, Stardock does a great job giving personality to dry data. The issues are a great example of this. Florida has a lot of old people worried about social security. Washington state has a lot of tech-hippies worried about climate change. West Virginia has a lot of coal miners worried about renewable energy. The priority for these issues will evolve with the campaign as candidates run advertising and give speeches. For instance, McCain beating the War on Terror like a drum has raised it into the top five issues in a few states. But Obama's more effective use of high gas prices and the environment continues to upstage the War on Terror. Still, there's a natural state of things before the candidates get in there are mess it all up. Using this, Stardock has done an excellent job painting a picture of the United States based on what people care about.

So when Obama swings through Louisiana to do a television appearance (for some reason, Barry King Live is shooting here this week), I decide I'm not going to let McCain just walk away with the state's 9 electoral college votes. The top issue in Louisiana is Katrina relief. Of course, no one outside of Louisiana really cares about the issue. So this is a perfect opportunity to drop a couple of inexpensive newspaper ads, which are cheap because they only affect the state where they're located, unlike radio and TV, which extend beyond a state's borders. A television ad costs $450,000 to place and has a weekly cost of $30,000. But a print ad costs $50,000 to place and has a weekly cost of $3,000. A candidate's airline travel for a turn will cost more than a newspaper ad.

So I do the print ad double whammy in Louisiana: one ad saying Obama supports Katrina relief, another ad saying McCain opposes Katrina relief. For the remaining three months of the campaign, these newspaper ads will work their narrowly targeted magic, keeping the issue prominent, altering the perceived stance of each candidate on the issue, and hopefully netting Obama an easy 9 electoral votes when the election rolls around. I've done similar print ad double whammies on Social Security in Florida and more jobs in Pennsylvania. This combination of data and regional personality is The Political Machine at its best.

By the way, it's interesting to note how much has changed over the last four years. The original Political Machine came out in 2004 and this version is largely a port of the same gameplay. A Political Machine actually created in 2008 would probably have a very different perspective on newspaper and radio. It would likely play up the importance of the Internet on advertising and fund raising. In this version, the Internet is only briefly referenced in the form of a web master who inexplicably lowers the maintenance cost of advertising by 75%.

By the end of August, the polls for the electoral college have evened out again. McCain's lead has dropped to 20 votes, at 279 to 259. Which means Obama is doing pretty well considering he's up against a candidate with magical bottomless pockets.