Okay, appearently I have a very "cheap" way of winning according to the guy I played last night, but it works, and I have minor difficultly beating George Washington and Tommy J.
The trick is definately, definately the large HQ's. Spend the first HALF (20 weeks) building as many as you can and raising money in CA, FL, GA, TX, WA, WI, MI, IL, OH, PA, NJ, NY, MA and NC. You should be able to build 10, and try to build them in battlegrounds. If you're a democrat, it's better to put one in TX then NY.
After your VP pick (try to get someone who has a lot of MONEY), spend 5-10 weeks getting endorsements and operatives.
Now, for the home streatch. You should have close to 10 million by week 30. Pick an oppenant strong hold and spend every stamina and every turn putting out TV ads (try to stick to the big 3 -- Homeland Security, Fighting crime, War on Terror) Those 3 issues seem to be high on most states.
-The HQs bring in 100k per week, so if you build them before week 20, you'll be making good profit
-TV ads are better then newspaper because they reach a nationwide audience
If nothing else, this explains how the oppent seems to have "mystery doners" -- you're about to beat him in how much money is spent.
