A modern U.S. presidential campaign is one of the most amazing organizational endeavors undertaken by man. In 2008, John McCain and Barack Obama collectively spent $2.4 billion dollars on their efforts to be elected President of the United States. That is more money than the federal government devoted to the Manhattan Project. It is a larger figure than the gross domestic product of 32 countries. You could purchase three 50-story skyscrapers for the same amount. So, when we talk about running a U.S. presidential campaign, we are really referring to something akin to running a Fortune 500 company. The most remarkable thing is, a campaign manager must take this enterprise from literally nothing to these enormous heights in about a year’s time. It’s a grueling job, with enormous pressure and a lot to juggle. You have the candidate, the media, volunteers in every state, the campaign staff, the internet, attack ads, campaign consultants, pollsters, proxies and political problems of every conceivable stripe. And at the end of the day, what is your reward? If you win, you get the problems of governance. If you lose, you earn your party’s scorn and the inevitable finger-pointing that follows.

…of course, that’s just what your opponent intends to do to YOU.

In Campaign Manager 2008, we invite you to undertake this thankless task by assuming the role of the campaign manager for either Barack Obama or John McCain. Your candidate is relying on you to develop a campaign strategy and then go on to manage this enormous endeavor successfully. You will consider a variety of different tactics and strategies available to you, crafting a personal campaign plan by selecting a unique combination of techniques aimed squarely at pummeling your opponent.

While this game is thematically similar to 1960: The Making Of The President and is from the same designers, it is more of a card game and plays in much less time.