NEW WESTMINSTER, British Columbia - Canadian software company Hotpot Software today acknowledged that it had banned former presidential candidate Howard Dean from its online game, "President Forever". "It's not that Dr. Dean wasn't a good candidate," explained company spokesperson Raven Kopelman, "It's just that he was making it hard for the other players to converse." At issue was Dean's excessive use of exclamation marks, capital letters, and repetitive phrases. During one notable tirade, Dean reportedly said, "I'll use a DIAL-UP connection!!! And I'll use a DSL connection!!! And I'll use a CABLE connection!!! And I'll campaign you LUSERS right into the ground!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"I think we all take our own approach to a campaign," responded Dean, "And to ban one individual for expressing himself in his own way while allowing others free reign seems un-American." When it was pointed out that the company is Canadian and the game itself is hosted on Canadian servers, Dean responded, "That's exactly what's wrong with this country, and that's exactly why we can't risk letting George Bush continue to call 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue home!"

"I didn't care, he was ok," said one PF player using the handle 'LaterNader', "He got a little boisterous during our mock debates, but he was just trying to rack up points like anybody else. I thought some of his stuff was funny!"

"I'm glad he's out, eh?" said another player calling himself 'Democanuck', "His ranting was getting under my skin. He's a nice enough guy when you get a priv chat going with him, but once he's got an audience he just won't tone it down."

"Me and a few buddies of mine liked to razz him about his campaign manager, then just wait," recalled LaterNader, "Sure enough, in a few turns he'd fire him. In one campaign, we got him to go through four CM's. Sweet! I'm gonna miss that."
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