My latest column for Slate is out — and in this one, I review four video games that let you run your own US presidential campaign. In my preamble:

As Steven Johnson wrote last year, it’s hard to believe that election sims didn’t exist sooner. Running a campaign isn’t that much different from running a football team or a battle squadron, and video games already do a superb job of modeling that stuff. In the four games I tried, strategy—moving your team around, allocating resources—was more important than the issues. Mostly, I got some practice gazing lustfully at vote-rich states like Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Playing as Kerry in one round of Political Machine, I won the popular vote but lost the election.

You can read the full review here for free! And as always, if you have any thoughts, feel free to post ‘em in The Fray, Slate’s online forum.