The Scandal page was created very much as an afterthought. Surely nobody would really start to play dirty? HA! Just as in the real campaign, the candidates were eager to find out all about their opponents. The invitation, on the page, was extended to any researcher who wished to impart a little snippet of information. Imagine the surprise ,then, when the candidates started to post spurious remarks about themselves!

I must confess that the useful little 'chat' programme 'ICQ' came into its' own at this juncture. I did have direct communication with most of the 'hopefuls', so it was easy to encourage them to think up fun entries to sway the vote. My list of ICQ friends was growing ever larger and , provided I was prepared to wait up until the USA, Mexico and Australia were online, it was becoming great fun encouraging them to liven up the Scandal forum.

My first big scoop was provided be the ever-present Monshari aka Monsy. She, managed to 'smuggle' to me an hilarious picture of Fairly Strange... caught in a compromising position with flowers and a teddy bear! It was an easy job to plant the rumour in the forum and then paste it, and the picture, as headline news on the actual Scandal page. This 'innocent' little plant opened the floodgates and, at the
same time, I found two new friends and a whole heap of fun!

Fenchurch M. Mercury had provided a great picture of herself (a running mate also featured) and the other candidates, all men, were under pressure. Enter Da Baron. It began fairly quietly. His manifesto had been unusual, his postings to the forums were obscure. Then things began to heat up. I started finding strange references to silo's and gold and veiled remarks about the connection between Fenny and Da Baron! What was going on? As the (impartial) returning officer, it was my duty to bring this unprecedented occurrence to the attention of all. Da Baron proposed using fish as the currency for London then proceeded to boast about his unlimited supply courtesy of Ms. Fenchurch. The other candidates began to complain. Da Baron responded by going into attack mode... poor Icarus bearing the brunt of the outpourings. I could barely keep up with it all! Every day there was more to read, more to highlight.

The rest of the candidates were remarkably well-behaved; They were keeping their noses clean. A late arrival, Fruitbat, was coming up with some great one-liners which were topical as well as funny. I received an unexpected email from the sister of one candidate with some useful 'dirt'. The whole project had become huge, so it was with a sigh of relief that the nominations were closed. A very late candidate, Ant just made it into the race. He was nominated by quite a few people, seemingly all female, but he himself was noticeable by his absence, so he had to run under the banner of the 'silent majority'.

Next Week: Voting and a surprise!

The Virtual Mayor of London Election Archive

ShazzPRME

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