Marshall Collins (left) and Jamie Tang argue partisan politics in a much nicer way than they do on cable news - and with a better result.	Steve Brooks (left) meets defeat at the hands of Chris Withers in the semi-final round on his way to a fourth place finish.

The populace appeared to sour quickly on presidential politics as attendance dropped sharply with the election year behind us. Only 24 vetted candidates showed up for this year's presidential campaign.  Enthusiasm was high, with one candidate attempting to literally imitate Nixon's knee injury on an adjacent chair.  (NOTE: no candidates were harmed in the making of this tournament).  News spread quickly that last year's winner, Chris Byrd, would not be running for re-election.  Fox News reported he has accepted a position as 2010 campaign manager for New Jersey's Dan Dolan. 

Early returns indicated this would be a tight election.  The first round had six wins each by Nixon and Kennedy.  Average electoral scores: Kennedy: 255, Nixon: 263.

One candidate had to drop in the second round and his staff was unaware of his whereabouts.  Fox News reported he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.  Overall results continued to be close, with three wins by Nixon to two by Kennedy.  Average scores, Kennedy: 250, Nixon: 277.

Six players advanced to the quarter-finals, with the three winners and highest scoring loser surviiving to do battle once more.  Stefan Mecay and Chris Withers enjoyed lopsided victories, while Jim Doughan sweated out a close win over Steve Banks, allowing Steve to continue to the semis.  With their losses, John Wetherell and Philip Yaure accepted 5th and 6th place laurels respectively as they bowed out of the race.  Kennedy won on all three boards with a 120+ electoral vote margin. 

There was little drama in the primaries (semis) with Chris Withers as Nixon winning big over Steve Brooks (4th place).  Stefan Mecay won as Kennedy over Jim Doughan (3rd place). Jim resigned halfway through the campaign to "spend more time with his family", although Fox New reports he was trailing by a wide margin.  They also reported he was seen the next morning with a bunch of children, one of which may not have actually been his.

The Final was a showdown between this year's WAM winner, Stefan Mecay, and last year's WBC runner-up, Chris Withers.  Chris, as Nixon, dominated the early going and won all the debates but Stefan refused to throw in the towel.  A late October push and some election day recounts closed the gap, but Chris nonetheless persevered for a 277-231 win.

Chris was awarded a DVD of the Kennedy-Nixon debates and recycled last year's GM prize (1960: The Book) to Stefan.  "The Making of a President 1960" by Theodore White is a must read for any fan of the game.

The final tally for the entire tournament was 12 wins for Nixon and 11 for Kennedy.  A good time was had by all and as a first time GM, I also enjoyed myself.  Many thanks to my assistant GM, Greg Schmittgens. In the immortal words of an inspiring icon, "Ask not what your convention can do for you, but what you can do for your convention".

Stefan Mecay (left) downs the Breakout Normandy master James Doughan in the 1960 semi-finals by relying on a combination of the Kennedy charisma and family values.	GM Mike Gentile oversees his finalists as Chris Withers (left) improves on his 2008 runner-up status and downs Stefan Mecay to win it all. All Hail the Chief.

After a 24-player debut in 2008 and another strong showing in 2009, this year's 1960: The Making of the President event was unable to keep pace at WAM 2010, drawing a mere ten contestants. Part of this was no doubt due to the tournament's unofficial status, as well as its distance from the historic real-world election of 2008. Almost all of the games were played on Thursday and Saturday, between more hearty wargame fare. By Sunday morning, the only two players with an undefeated 2-0 record, Bob Heinzmann and Terry Coleman, faced off for the title. Terry, as Kennedy, jumped to an early lead, and even managed to win three states in the west, including California. Bob, counterpunching patiently as Nixon, ate into Kennedy's lead in the South and Midwest. Debates were nearly even, and going into the final turn, the game seemed very much in doubt. Unfortunately for Terry, his final endorsements were in areas where he already had leads, rendering them useless. Bob, on the other hand, was able to not only erase Terry's endorsement lead in the east, but to also flip practically the entire eastern seaboard for Nixon, a tremendous accomplishment. Final scoring thus went from a nail-biter to a Nixon landslide, as Bob won going away, 361-177. Given the small field, it will come as no surprise that only nine games were played in all. Nixon players had the slightest of edges, five wins to four - a smaller margin of victory than in previous WAMs. Nearly every game was played with no preference shown by either player (and thus no bids). The best Nixon player was tournament champ Bob Heinzmann at 2-0. No one managed to win twice with Kennedy. 2010 WAM Laurelists

Bob Heinzmann, FL 1st Terry Coleman, CA 2nd Michael Mitchell, GA 3rd Jeff Finkeldey, OH 4th John Wetherell, PA 5th 1960 PBeM Tournament: Justin Nordstrom won the BPA PBeM Tournament in an upset win over veteran CDW gamer Stefan Mecay and a field of 16. Semi-finalists Bob Jamelli and Mike Pacheco played a consolation game for third with Mike taking the bronze. Fifth and sixth place laurels were awarded to George Young and Anthony Daw respectively based on the number of electoral votes won in their last losing contest.