Speaking of Crooked Politicians
...
As the WBC started its Election Year convention, 25 politicians
entered their name into the ring vying for their parties' nomination.
Five Preliminary round games would advance the winners to a five-player
final.
The first game saw defending champion
Katherine Hitchings paired up with previous champions and Hall
of Famers Bruce Reiff and Ken Gutermuth. Katherine jumped to
an early lead by conquering New York but as the convention started,
Reiff and Gutermuth were in a dead heat with 94 votes. The first
round of the convention for the 130 undecided votes was expected
to be a very scandalous affair as three scandal cards remained
in the players' hands. In a surprise round, none of the scandals
were played and Reiff managed to conquer the undecided and go
on to be the first to advance to the finals.
The second game saw Jim Bell, enter the preliminaries with
just Arizona and Rhode Island's support for 12 votes. Jim managed
to win the 147 undecided votes and go on to capture his table's
nomination in the final round of the convention.
The third game saw a newcomer emerge to the finals. Mark Love
used the strength of his win in California to enter the convention
in second place. Two wins in the convention enabled Mark to advance
from his table.
The fourth game saw John Zahorsky jump out to a large lead
entering the convention with 149 votes. John's win of the 113
undecided votes gave him a commanding lead with 262 votes. Entering
the convention with just 53 votes, one above being the first
player eliminated, Christina Hancock decided it was her turn
to make a move toward John's lead. Christina went on to capture
the next three rounds of the convention and overtake John to
advance to the finals.
The fifth game saw perennial finalist John Coussis lead from
start to finish to enable him to join Bruce Reiff, Mark Love,
Jim Bell, and Christina Hancock in the finals.
The finals proved to be a tightly contested race as only five
states were undecided after the preliminaries. Bruce Reiff used
an early win in California to enter the convention in the lead
with 122 votes, Christina Hancock entered the convention in second
place with 91 votes despite a scandal and deadlock on her favorite
son in Massachusetts. John Coussis was in third with 89 votes,
using his favorite son in Texas. Jim Bell was fourth with 78
votes and Mark Love sat on the bubble with 72. Repeating his
first round performance, Jim Bell won the 74 undecided votes
to vault into first place. Christina Hancock won the next round
to take the lead and leave John Coussis as the second player
to be eliminated and putting Bruce Reiff in a must win position.
Showing why he has won more tournaments then anyone else in the
history of the convention, Bruce Reiff went on to take the next
two rounds of the convention and emerge as the first player to
win the Candidate tournament more than once.
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