Molotov

Sign up thread. Below are the available positions. If the main listed ones become full, I can be convinced to open smaller parties or place people within the same factions.

Progressive Party
Progressive Moderate - Flamelord
Progressive Liberal - Gesar
Progressive Hard Left - Snacks
Progressive Conservative - Rising Phoenix

Republican Party
Republican Moderate - Maddox
Republican Conservative - Coinneach
Republican Neo-Conservative - Zar
Republican Liberal - RinKou

Socialist Party
Socialist Party - OYID
Socialist Workers


Sign Up form:
In a separate private message to me, it'd be handy if you outlined the inner details of your rise to power, including various allegiances, family stuff, skeletons in closets, etc. - no one has none. In fact, the less you try to be the perfect beacon of freedom, democracy and liberty in your history, the better.

Also if you're in both the legislative and executive branches (OYID and Smyg right now, plus anyone else whose main character is appointed to the cabinet), you need your main fleshed out person, plus another person to be your main voice in the legislature who should be at least halfway fleshed out. Please see Announcements thread and Rules thread (specifically the second post) for details.

Role: Speaker of the House, leader of the Progressive Liberals, Representative for Minnesota's 7th district
Name: Anthony Calhoun Nordquist
Date of Birth: August 2, 1926
Ethnicity: Caucasian (Swedish-German ancestry)
Religion: Evangelical Lutheran

Biography: The only child of a professor at a state teachers' college and a locally-known former suffragette, Anthony Calhoun Nordquist grew up in a modest home steeped in the ideals of the local Farmer-Labor Party. With the intention of becoming a lawyer, following high school he enrolled in the University of Minnesota's Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps program, only for the young man to receive his Bachelor's Degree and promptly find himself deployed to Milwaukee as a second lieutenant in the 135th Infantry Regiment. There, he was part of the force that saw the withdrawal from Chicago, intermittent skirmishing and the subsequent evacuation. More importantly however, amidst the chaos, Anthony caught the eye of Natalie Phillips, an intelligent young member of the local Socialist Party as fond of debating as he was. The two quickly grew close, and on the night of the pre-Treaty ceasefire, they quietly married in a private ceremony.

Once the war was over, the pair returned to Minnesota, where Anthony earned his Juris Doctor and, with the influence of Natalie (who joined the local Progressive-Farmer-Labor Party after the influx of Trotskyist and Toledanist ideologues into the Socialists), became a legal representative for the Congress of Agricultural and Industrial Organizations. In 1959, he gained local (and to some degree national) attention at the height of the Minneapolis milling dispute, where the resurgent milling industry found itself threatened with a strike not just from millworkers, but from other food processors and farmers as well. As Mayor P. Kenneth Peterson arbitrated the dispute, Nordquist negotiated on behalf of the union, reaching a settlement that not only favored the CAIO, but gained a great deal of attention from both the media for his forceful, reasoned arguments and the local Progressive Party.

Since then, it has been mostly steady rise to national attention for the man known in his home state as the "Lion of the North". In 1962, at the urging of his colleagues in the then-dominant liberal faction of the Progressives, he ran for the position of Representative of Minnesota's 7th district, forming a friendship with Senators Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern, for whom he gave the keynote address at the future President's nomination. After McCarthy's failed Presidential bid, Nordquist entered his sixth term as Representative on a traditional platform of national unionism, protectionism, and public works as the House Minority Leader. To the surprise of most analysts (who have so far been able to point only to the overall transfer of power in the Progressives), when the Progressives regained control of the House in 1974, the party broke with tradition and elected a member of the moderate faction Speaker of the House. Instead, Nordquist has spent the last six years acting as Majority Leader to the influential Speaker, only coming into the position with the defeat of the lackluster Cargo administration and the failed re-election bid of his distinguished Moderate colleague.

Role: President + Progressive Moderates
Name: Charles Efraim Stone
Date of Birth: 8 August 1933
Ethnicity: Caucasian (Anglo-German ancestry, with a drop of blood from numerous other nationalities)
Religion: Methodist (but irreligious)

Biography:

• From a well-known and well-respected, but politically unambitious family in Colorado.
• Father killed in the last days of the war in 1949, just prior to the peace. Family struggled but managed to survive.
• Obtained a law degree but soon left family in-fighting to join the MS Navy.
• Honourably discharged at the end of his service in 1962 without option for re-enlisting as part of continuing cut backs.
• Returned to Colorado and took up legal advocacy, becoming noted both for his oratory skills and as a relentless pursuer of prominent officials guilty of extortion and corruption.
• Utilised family standing and growing prominence to gain election to the state legislature.
• Selected in 1967 to serve as Chief of Staff for the MS Ambassador to France. Succeeded the Ambassador in that role in 1969.
• Retired from the Ambassadorship after his term in 1972, returning to be elected Governor of Colorado.
• With his term limit approaching in 1980, emerged as prime contender for the Progressive Presidential nomination, winning election.

Role: Leader of the Progressive Conservatives, Senior Senator for Kansas
Name: Orval Scott
Date of Birth: August 20, 1939
Ethnicity: Caucasian (Swedish-British-Scottish)
Religion: Baptist, Protestant

Biography: Orval Scott was born just days before the full escalation of the European War and the full-scale invasion of Poland. Part of a younger generation of politicians, he rose up quickly through political patronage and contacts from wealth. A high school political aspirant, he worked on the political campaign of the Mayor of Wichita before being unsatisfied with the mayor’s populist style. After graduation, he took a gap year, founding the Kansas Grain Exchange business with a loan from his uncle, the accomplishments from which gained him acceptance into Washington University in St. Louis, where he studied economics.

Upon graduation, he worked for three years as a sales manager for Ford Automobiles’ Mountain States offices, before leaving to found the Mountain States Equipment Exchange in St. Louis, converting scrap and used vehicles into working machines, contributing some profits to charity. A highly successful marketer, he was tapped to be the Director of Campaigns for the Progressive Party, first in Missouri then in his native Kansas.

When he turned twenty seven, Orval ran in a special election for his first House seat in Kansas, winning by 63% of the vote, with accusations of vote rigging flying from both sides. Claims were made that his opponent was unfaithful, and that Orval was homosexual - the slanders by and against him harming his standing, if only due to it being viewed poorly, rather than believed. Follow the campaign, Orval married socialite Andrea Vanderbilt, from a branch of the family that had moved westwards. She took over management of his remaining business interests while he was in office.

In Congress, Orval developed a conflicting reputation - being involved in backing specific appropriations and earmarking deals, but also campaigning against corruption on a wider scale. After defeating an incompetent challenger to achieve re-election, Orval was immersed in a minor scandal, wherein his wife was accused of profiting indirectly from purchases tied to earmarked companies. However the claims were never proven, and no charges levied. Despite marital problems ensuing from this, a widely-publicised reconciliation was seen, with Orval and his wife now “proud” to have overcome these issues “with the help of God”.

In his next Congressional term, Orval became involved in a large number of academic publications which drew on his eye for detail to analyze economic problems and fluctuations in the market. Concluding that deregulation, tax cuts, and a reduction in budget deficits was necessary for long-term growth, he and three other Congressmen founded the Moderate Club, which was later renamed the Market Club. When the only Republican member was later defeated, the infant movement became entirely Progressive, developing into the Progressive Conservative faction.

Campaigning heavily, Orval won his first election to the MS Senate for Kansas by reaching out to the people, aggressively making appearances, and using his good favor in the press. He secured massive campaign contributions and was elected by a healthy margin. Further contributions were then made by Orval to allies in the Progressive Conservative and Market movement, leading to a number of victories. Originally, the movement was under the respected Governor Rick Maxwell, but as Orval became more involved in the bureaucracy of the effort, the youngster gradually took over, becoming caucus leader in 1976.

In the last presidential election, Orval set up a focus group with the help of a large number of lobbying groups and well-funded think tanks, but elected not to run, endorsing instead the mainstream Progressive candidate and receiving a keynote at the PNC. In the last administration, he delivered the Progressive rebuttal to the State of the Union, which was well received but noted for its slow pace and focus on embarrassing the President instead of rallying the people against his ideology.

So out of everyone, Litos is the furthest along in actually having a finished sign up. He's PMed me his full biography, and apart from a handful of changes to make, he can then post his abridged, clean biography in this thread and he's done.

Mentions go out to Smyg, Gesar, Snacks, Coinneach and BgKnight for at least discussing with me some aspect of their sign up. OYID and RinKou, please at least mention something to me.

Everyone, you can post a partially-complete sign up if you'd like, as Gesar, Smyg, and Litos have done. It would be preferable to having nothing written down.

Senator Nathan Hanlon, P-TX, Senate Majority Leader

Role: Senate Majority Leader, Leader of the Progressive Hard-Left, Senior Senator for Texas
Name:Nathan Hanlon
Date of Birth: March 4, 1935
Ethnicity: Caucasian (Irish-American ancestry. Possible German-Mexican ancestry acknowledged)
Religion: United Methodist.

Biography:

• 1935: Born in rural Texas, near northern border. Son of local rancher and nurse. Too young to serve during the Axis-Japanese invasion, but known to have done volunteer work when north and western Texas became a major relocation region for citizens fleeing the west.
• 1956(21): Studying City Planning in Mexico when Granma lands in Cuba.
• 1959(24): Arrives in Cuba, pursing further education in exchange for mid-level ministry work. Begins making ties with members of American expat community, groundwork laid for Harry Haywood Brigade.
• 1961-63: Handles logistical concerns for Harry Haywood Brigade as it serves in Haitian and Central American revolutions.
• 1963-65: Serves with HHB in support of Argentina's ERP. Following agreement between MSA and 4th International on continued cooperation in light of USA/PSA pressure, returns to Texas upon the dissolution of the HHB.
• 1965-72: Becomes involved in politics through Progressive machine in Dallas, though involvement is stymied by moderate tendency in local party. ('67)Marries state politician Marie Reynolds [currently member of Texas legislature] following a first meeting at a Party function in '65, the pair have two now-teenaged children. Manages to garner widespread support from Latino and unionized workers and receives Progressive Nomination for Comptroller as Stassen is elected to presidency. Tried at the insistence of the Stassen Administration along with the rest of the "Haywood Seven" (reduced from Eight after leader Milton Wolff's attempted assassination and hospitalization) under the Neutrality Act, was forced to pull out of the Comptroller race. With continued support from his constituency and with added sympathy following the exoneration of the Haywood Seven, ran against and unseated the incumbent Republican Senator in 72 elections.
• 1972-1980: Despite waning influence of the Hard Left wing of Progressive party in national politics, quickly becomes notable for his fierce politicking in opposition of Republican interests, effective fundraising, and eager coalition-building with Socialists makes him a leading figure in the party and fuels speculation by political commentators that his election and growing popularity might be the beginnings of a Progressive and particularly a Hard Left renaissance. Despite increasing public awareness and popularity after spearheading an oil agreement with Mexican government, control of party by moderates and liberals brings Hanlon into political alliance and friendship with Representative Anthony Nordquist. Unexpectedly strong electoral support for Progressive/Socialist ticket attributed in part to fierce support for Stone campaign. Named Speaker despite low share of Senate by Hard Left, likely as part of Prog/Soc compromise.

Role: House Minority Leader, leader of the Republican Conservatives, Representative for Oklahoma
Name: Matthew James Carpenter
Date of Birth: January 8th, 1924
Ethnicity: Caucasian (German-Irish ancestry)
Religion: Evangelical Baptist

Biography: Eldest son of Matthew George Carpenter, a pastor-turned-soldier who died in the final stages of the Japanese invasion of the West Coast. Family settled first in Montana, then Oklahoma fleeing the war. He himself fought in the war as a fighter pilot on the East Coast, post-war studied at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Graduated with distinction and with his younger brother founded Carpenter Logistics, a firm which grew thanks to supplying the defence industry in Oklahoma. Moved into politics to become a councilman of the city in 1968, subsequently 31st Mayor of Oklahoma City in 1971. Elected to Congress in 1976 representing Oklahoma in the House, becoming a noted follower of President Stassen but fell out of favour during the Cargo administration.

Role: Leader of the Republican NeoConservatives, Representative for Texas
Name: Leanna J. Freeman
Date of Birth: 10 December, 1940
Ethnicity: African-American (Mixed African-Irish ancestry)
Religion: African Methodist Church (Black Church)

Biography: To say Leanna was born in poverty, would be a lie. The Freeman family is one of the success stories of the African-American, not really all that wealthy but with an upper middle-class background. Her Father, Gorge Freeman was the Rector of the Kansas State University and as such, he spent copious amounts of time educating his little girl. Born in the beginning of the war in Europe, grew up under the sounds of bombs as America's capital was moved to Kansas. Mr Freeman was sent to the front in the desperate but ultimately failed defense of the West Coast, which he would luckily survive and return to the post waiting for him, albeit with some severe mental scarring.

This didn't stop Leanna's development, as her mother, a musician, showed her how to play and developed the girl's sense for music. Upon finishing high-school, she went on to receive a BA degree in finance from the Texas State University and an MBA degree in Political Science from The University of Texas at Austin. While at school, she witnessed with extreme horror the segregation and increased racism that engulfed the United States of America, which, combined with living in post-war Mountain States and seeing the economic devastation and the death of the national spirit, developed the ideology she would become leader of eventually.

She begun attending rallies for Black Emancipation, where her fiery rhetoric galvanized the black right-wing vote. After her spirited defense of the African-Americans from the homegrown Mountain-states Nazi party, she came to national attention. From there on out it was a quick rise to the top, as the more radical Black Caucasus of the Republican party rallied behind the NeoCon ideas of freedom, larger-military and a strong mountain republic that can easily handle threats from America and beyond. Her attendance of the Black Church and various rallies has led to a small resurgence in sympathies towards the Republicans in the black voter (although still majority left-leaning).

Waiting on confirmation from Goofy/Langben, but the present plan is that he'll take over the Republican Moderate faction from RinKou, who will switch to the Republican Liberal faction.

The rankings for character sign ups mirror the situation in Congress closely: the Progressives in first place (everyone has a placeholder sign up, Litos and Gesar almost finished), the Republicans in second place (waiting to solve switcheroo stuff), and the Socialists in dead last. Get a move on, guys.

Role: Head of Republican Moderates, Representative for Iowa district 2
Name: Henry Holliday
Date of Birth: March 19th 1929
Ethnicity: Scottish descent
Religion: Roman Catholic

Biography: To be amended

On the "Workingplace Campaign Trail" up North.

Role: Socialists + Vice-President.
Name: Paul Edward Roux-Johnson.
Date of Birth: 14 July 1926
Ethnicity: Caucasian, with marked French ancestry.
Religion: Catholic.

Biography: Louisiana-born. Originally from a working-class background (Father worked the docks, mother in a mill). When he was eighteen he started working in the docks, but left two years later to join the Navy, fighting in the East Coast until the US Navy was smashed by the mighty Kriegsmarine. Known for passing a short stint as a POW before being rescued by Partisans, he went back across the ever-moving border just in time to see the bombing of New Orleans.

Back home, he was shocked to see the destruction of his hometown, and even more when he saw the callousness of local businessmen who kept up their exploitiative and speculating ways even as the people reconstructed. At 24 he started out his political life as a Union representative for his fellow dockworkers, where he grew popular enough to make it onto the New Orleans City Council on a Socialist ticket. There he cut his teeth and distinguished himself as an uncompromising radical, calling out Democratic and then Progressive initiatives as being too timid and not pushing for enough benefits for the working class.

This reputation would follow him into the State Congress and Senate. Mr. Roux-Johnson prides himself for having been steadfast in the "long and stubborn Socialist battle" through the turbulent times of the post-war. Having traveled a few times to Mexico both in State Office and in 1960 as, finally, a US Congressman, he received the influx of Toledanist ideas into the Party fairly well, negotiating a place for them even after the split. Such an attitude has led him to be known as something of an old hardline straight-talking socialist dog watching out for the inexperienced but radical Trotskyist pups. His outspoken-ness and reliability to negotiate conflicts in the workers' favor, as well as his refusal to give in to the fancy ways of Kansas have kept him a popular figure among the working class and led to the Socialists quickly picking him as a respectable face for the still-controversial Party, a position he accepted with something that looked like grim determination.

A vocal critic of "blindly siding with the Progressives all the damn time", he was vindicated in the 1968 "treason" where the Socialists were left out of the ticket. The leadership of the Party, ridiculed, was voted out in that year's Congress, with Roux-Johnson heading the new Politburo. There, he decided to go hard and fast against the Progressives, deliberately poaching their weakest districts and "working to strengthen our position to make them sorry they crossed us and also make sure they never do it again". Despite it being a big year for the Republicans, in 1972 Paul Edward Roux-Johnson was elected into the US Senate, where he once again provided the thunderous voice of justice and reason among the great halls of corruption.

By the end of the decade he had established himself as the undisputed voice of the Socialist Party, with the sole dissent coming form its right-wing for his continued support of the Socialist Worker's faction. When he got the call inviting him onto the Stone ticket he famously answered: "They feel old, rejected, and boring." An aid started to speak but he interrupted with "And we look young, hot, with a hunky Mexican date and a big pair of tits. What the hell, we might as well go to the dance."

During the election he took a "Workingplace Campaign Trail" eschewing the larger stages in favor of focusing on face-to-face meetings with factory and farm workers nationwide. Now, this restless spirit of old-fashioned class struggle must deal with the machinations and intrigues of the capital while staying true to his beloved principles.

Role: Republican Moderates + Senator from Iowa
Name: Franklin Weeks
Date of Birth: 26 June 1918
Ethnicity: Caucasian of mixed ancestry, predominantly Danish and English. One eighth Odawa
Religion: Episcopal Christian

Biography:
- Born in Battle Creek, Michigan, but spent most of his childhood in Dearborn
- Son to to a Union machinist father and librarian mother, descended (on his father's side) from Captain Solomon Weeks, Civil War veteran of the Michigan 24th Volunteer Infantry
- Graduated with honors from the University of Michigan (class of 1940) with a degree in Naval Engineering and as a member of the ROTC
- Joined the interbellum US Navy and served on Sargo and Tambor class submarines before being assigned to the then brand-new USS Cavalla as executive officer during the war
- With the capitulation of the United States Government, he was unable to return to his native state and left the US Navy with the rank of Lieutenant Commander
- Emigrated to the Mountain States of America and joined their navy as commander of the MSS Comanche (SSK-02)
- Promoted to Rear Admiral and appointed head of the MSN Subsurface Defense School in Corpus Christi
- Retired from the MSN in 1961 with the rank of Vice Admiral and moved to Davenport, Iowa, starting a company designing and manufacturing sailboats and speedboats
- Member of the local VFW and the Davenport Chapter of the Mississippi Minutemen, a Home Guard-type organization that monitored the USA across the river, elected chapter president of both organizations (although not concurrently)
- Asked to run for Lieutenant Governor by gubernatorial candidate and fellow Navy veteran Micheal Novak, winning election on the Republican ticket in 1964
- Served a full four year term as Lieutenant Governor, considered by many to be a pragmatist and a firebrand, unwilling to sacrifice good policy for petty politics and unwavering in his support of the armed forces and (surprising to some) worker's rights
-In 1969 the Novak administration was mired in controversy after evidence surfaced of the Governor taking bribes in return for cabinet appointments. Novak was impeached and removed, but the state house could find no indication that Weeks had done anything wrong, and he was sworn in as Governor near the end of the year
- Served the remainder of his term as governor, continuing to garner a reputation in Iowa as a capable statesman
- Decided to run for federal office in 1972, and was elected on the Republican ticket by a strong majority (61.1%)
- Reelected in 1978, though not by as wide a margin
- Sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee

Role: Republican Liberal, Representative for Texas' 32nd Congressional District
Name: Christopher Miller
Date of Birth: August 20th, 1936
Ethnicity: White Anglo-Saxon
Religion: Methodist

Biography:

-Son of a prominent oil baron
-Married the daughter of a Mexican cattle baron
-2 daughters, 1 son, dog named Chico
-Too young to serve in the war, but he did enlist in the MSArmy after college
-Fairly active member of his church
-Elected as an active member of the business community, known for his willingness to work across the aisle

Huojin asked me to step in for BgKnight, who's not going to be able to play. Will definitely take over Bg's character since its honestly a lot better than anything that I'll be able to come up with quickly.

As agreed upon with Huojin, taking over the good Jose Marquez