I just beat Washington using Obama. First try, actually
It was a hard-fought battle the entire way. I used a few tricks to beat him:
1. Gather his endorsements
I nabbed up the Gun Control and National Security endorsements as fast as I could before working on my own. So you'll need alot of initial investment in political clout. Gather them quickly, since he'll try to go after your endorsements, too!
2. Stay on a few key topics
Use your speehces to emphasize which generic topics in swing staetes. For example, mine were Improve the Economy, More Jobs, and opposing High Gas Prices. These are generic enough so that democrats, republicans, and independents will support you.
3. Political Capital is key
Washington beat me on almost everything; he beat me on money spent, advertisements, and even the popular vote! I beat him in two key areas: political capital and the electoral vote! After you've secured your speech writer, fashion consultant, and PR consultant, spend alot of your political capital on webmasters, spin doctors, and smear merchants. Intimidators are useless considering how many TV ads Washington uses.
4. Negative Advertising Works
Nearly all of my advertising weren't for Obama so much as they were against Washington. I made loads of radio and TV ads blasting Washington on the economy and jobs. Putting him on the defensive works very well.
5. Focus on key states
I sacrificed the south (except Florida) and the west (except the coastline). I primarily went for the northeast and upper midwest. Ohio and Florida were the battle states. Give speeches in these areas to bring up your standing and blast your opponent with negative ads.
The end result: I lost by the popular vote by two million, but won the electoral 319 to 219.
I spent 343 political capital, he spent 208
I spent 109 political clout, he spent 54
I spent $18,338,000; he spent $42,630,000(!!!!)
Edit:
I reloaded the game and took some screenshots, so you can emulate what I did on the map. The results aren't exactly the same, but they're close enough.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28019233@N08/2705824028/sizes/o/
