On the Road Again Chap. 9 The Campaign Trail

Todays Agenda Learning the importance of modern tech. to Presidential Campaigns Understand the organization of a campaign and its components Understanding how the National Party Convention showcases new political talent.

Partayy National conventions used to be a source of drama. ◦ Party’s nominee was picked here by undetermined votes. ◦ Impassioned speeches helped sway delegates. ◦ Dark-horse: surprise nominees Now the winner has been determined through primaries and caucuses ◦ Media has scaled back their coverage

Party on, Wayne. Used to spotlight young political talents ◦ 2004 John Kerry chose Barack Obama to be the keynote speaker  Brought national attention to then Senator Obama. The party also sets up the party platform ◦ A political party’s goals and policies for the next four years.  Tailored to a candidates strengths.

What about the Vice? Vice President is chosen on the final day of the National Party Convention. ◦ Delegates generally vote for who the President nominee recommends The final day, the President nominee gives his acceptance speech

The Importance of Media How did politicians used to talk to constituents? ◦ Train tours, shaking hands, kissing babies. How can Presidents get to us now? ◦ ◦ Commercials ◦ Twitter ◦ Various forms of media Candidates rely on media to sell their campaign to the public.

Media Campaigning Two factors ◦ 1. How much money a candidate is willing to use for advertising  At least half of total budget used for television. ◦ 2. The “free” attention. Advertising has created a new group of “informed” citizens ◦ Learning political stances from 30 second advertisements, rather than news shows.

What makes up a campaign? Campaign ads typically (quickly) discuss policy issues ◦ 6:1 ratio of Policy vs. Image ads. In contrast, newscasts tend to focus on more trivial matters: ◦ Who’s ahead in polls ◦ Where and what the candidate did in a day

The Orchestra Pit News sources tend to focus more on strategy of candidates and polling ◦ Less on the actual issues. Find clip of Perry forgetting is plan. Report more of gaffes and conflicts Issues get mentioned, but overshadowed by the more “entertaining” portions.