In "Politics as Usual", each player takes on the role of a U.S. Senator and competes at getting himself/herself re-elected to the Senate. A player needs 5,000,000 votes in order to be re-elected. To gain these votes, players will need to cooperate with each other to pass Pork Barrel legislation and gain voter support, as well as work on their own to raise money. The box cover illustrates some of the rather humorous cards in the game, some of which play off of events contemporaneous to the game's design. In one example, a player gains 700,000 votes due to their "Trial Reform" bill which, in actuality, creates a casino in the player's state "specializing in bets on outcomes of celebrity murder trials."