Word: lever
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...keys to Mafia Wars' appeal is that it's easy. Unlike in a "real" video game, you can't really lose. The constant stream of rewards is addictive; you become like a rat who can't stop pushing the lever to get the little pellets. Your resources constantly regenerate, and the game is always giving you random items that you don't even know how you earned. People in your mafia send you gifts too. The game will try to make you give them in return, and tell them about things you're doing and - this is important - recruit more...
...Though midterm elections tend to be referendums about the party in power, Republicans know that if they have any shot at regaining the majority, they have to give voters a reason to pull the lever for them. Most observers who track congressional races predict Democratic losses of 20 seats or more, and the latest generic matchups by Rasmussen polls show Republicans leading Democrats 42% to 38%. Still, Democrats control the House by a margin of 40 seats, so taking back the House would require a pretty major wave of discontent over the next year. And while polls show that Americans...
...past five years, Hu has headed the Commission, a critical lever of power in China through which the Party controls the country's armed forces. Promotion to its vice chairmanship is widely seen as an essential step in the opaque process by which the Party selects its next leader. Critically, Hu's appointment to the same job was announced at the Plenum held three years before he ascended to the General Secretaryship of the Party in 2002. Because previous head-of-state successions have essentially been orchestrated by dominant leaders like Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, Hu's path...
...issues on voters' minds. "Taxes and jobs are the issue of the campaign. We have the highest tax burden of any state in America, and we have the highest unemployment in the region," Christie told TIME in an interview. "If there's some people who decide to pull my lever in the booth because they don't like Jon Corzine, I'll take their votes too. I'm not particular in that regard...
Demographic change is irritating to politicos, since it works on elections much as rigged dice do on a Las Vegas craps table: it is a game changer. For years, Republicans won elections because the country was chock-full of white middle-class voters who mostly pulled the GOP lever on Election Day. Today, however, that formula is no longer enough. (See pictures of Republican memorabilia...