Gehn, lord of ages, on Oct 24 2010, 10:54 AM, said:
The fangirls got 100% of the vote? What voting system is this?

Only Landed (aristocrats and capitalists) Voting. There's only about 6500 people in the country who are allowed to vote, so it's entirely possible that all the votes went to one party. Luckily, the King can always reappoint the Conservatives rather than those pesky Reactionaries (who's Jingoism policy increases military supply consumption)
Gehn, lord of ages, on Oct 24 2010, 10:54 AM, said:
Ooh, influence information. Handy. What's the flag (is that Ohio's?) next to Canada mean? Competition?
Yup. Ohio, at that point, was influencing Canada for some reason.
They've since fallen to regular, civilised nation status.
So has Mexico, amazingly.
Here's the diplo situation in 1850:
Click to reveal hidden content

Moscow's soon going to loose their Great Power status to Bohemia-Moravia.

As you can tell, the only reason we're a Great Power is because of our really high prestige. Researching medicine and those art techs really boosts prestige early on in the game.
I've ordered the countries so you can see who we're influencing and who's already in the Economic sphere of influence.
I was really surprised when Castille formed Iberia; last I checked, Castille was a fairly minor power.
Oh well.