I am a Social Studies teacher who is interested in using the Political Machine in a government class in a unit on the election process, assuming I'm not violating any copyright or usage rules.  I am only in the initial planning phase of this lesson, and won't run it for about a month.  Ideally, I would like to divide my class into two teams, Democrats and Republicans, and have them play against each other.  I am currently using Political Machine 2004, and am willing to buy a second copy of the game if need be.

Question 1:  I've never played a multiplayer video game before.  Is what I'm plannnig even possible?

Question 2:  I would like to alter the game's data to change candidate statistics and state issues, to provide several possible scenarios.  This also provides an opportunity to have the kids do some research about polling data and make the game reflect the current political landscape, thus givin them more of what pretentious educational specialists call  "ownership" of the activity.  The problem is that once I do that, the multiplayer option is no longer available.  Is there anything I can do to make it work?

Question 3:  I would like the teams to hold primaries amongst themselves (an activity I'm running with or without the political machine, given that they're asking about the complex process in the Democratic party), and then we'll create the kids' candidates in the game.  Is it possible to import their portraits?

Of course, I plan on trying to get my school to purchase Political Machine 2008 for next year, but it would be helpful if I could run this lesson this year to show that it is worth the cost (especially since I figure we'd need two copies for multiplayer use, and funds for next year's class supplies have already been allocated).  Any help, particularly on the second question, would be greatly appreciated.