Although we are still just under two years from the next Presidential election, there are already a well-known group of people who have made public their decision to run on the 2008 ballot. Leading the pack for the Democratic Party are Senators Hilary Clinton and Barak Obama, who have recieved a great deal of attention from the media and the public. It has become apparent that members from both side of the aisle are realizing that they may have the competative edge when the primaries begin if they start campaigning now. In the absense of the incumbant president running for re-election, the 2008 is starting to look like a close run even in February of 2007. Just this week, former NYC mayor, Rudolph Guliani has made it known that he is ready to through his hat in the race, which futher stirs things up given his popularity among voters both in New York and around the country.
Discuss whether is it important for any candidate interested in running for President in 2008 to be one of the first to declare their candidacy and how a two year span of campaigning can help them or hurt them. Also, try to add what tactics they can use early on to gain voter support and positive recognition. As we discussed in class, once on the campaign trail, they are constantly having their every move followed and scrutinized. Sometimes too much attention may not be the best thing.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/20/hillary.clinton.ap/index.html (Clinton article)
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/15/presidential.bids/index.html (McCain aritcle)
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/05/giuliani.2008.ap/index.html (Guliani article)
9 comments:
Candidates are jumping on the election bandwagon right now. Clinton and Obama have already discussed and set thier issues on many topics; as they begin to platform in the presidential campaign. Really, I feel that since these two started so early other candidates felt pressure to do the same. With so much exposure, many things can happen to these candidates. One, they can build a successful campaign platform and gain the votes and supporters. Campaigning for this long can also lead to overexposure, of the candidate and of the issues at hand. Politics is constantly changing and it will be interesting to see how these candidates change over the course of a 2 year campaign. Internet exposure also is a main component now that may effect the campaigns. It is easy for the candidates to access the voters and update thier election sites at a moments notice. This internet campaigning has really made hitting th campaign trail early a more popular move. It will be interesting to see all the coverage of the elections actually during election time. They are getting so much news time now, imagine what will happen when the race gets a little closer.
It is good that Hilary and Barack were the first to get their names out there because now they are known for their prompt action and the public is aware of how they stand on certain issues. However, I feel that it is too early for candidates to be jumping on the 2008 election bandwagon. I think 2 years of campaigning can hurt a candidate because it is just overkill and the public will become bored with the candidate after a while. As discussed in class, candidates now have to watch every move they make from now until the election because they are under strict scrutiny. Since starting their campaigns so early, the candidates will have to be extra careful of what information the public finds out about.
To gain voter support and recognition, the best thing a candidate can do is making themselves readily available to the public. Via the internet or making public appearances are great ways to expose oneself to the public. It will be interesting to see closer to the race if candidates like Obama and Clinton are as popular to the press as they are now.
First of all I think you make great points in your post this week. I think being the first to announce your candidacy is a big deal. It lets the public know for one that your are serious and two you can start getting your message out to the public as to what your agenda is going to be about. In Senator Hillary Clinton's case, I think that she has one up on everybody simple because she is a woman and I think she is going to make the election of 2008 a dog fight.
As far as coming out about you candidacy too soon, that could be an issue if your not careful because the media is on top of every chance to scrutinize you. This was the case in Hillary's case when she joked about "evil men". However, I think the key to coming out early is strategic planning, with so many mediums and outlits to reach the American people, a candadite's campaign strategy is going to be key to their success in the 2008 Presidential Elections.
With the race off and running you have to be thick skinned because only the strong will survive and I think this country is going review the next President with a fine tooth comb because of what has happen in Iraq and the troops that are still over there risking their lives.
I agree with Allyson in that I think most of the other candidates made their announcements so early because they felt pressured to. I think that in other cases a two year span of running is a very negative thing in most cases--I think the public will become wearisome of hearing the same issues and topics repeated and get tired of the media constantly badgering the candidates.
However, I think in Hillary and Barak's case it is good they already announced their candidacy. Because of the fact that the media is going to obsess over a "woman and African American" running for the presidency in the same year, hopefully by the time the primaries come around the public will be over it and be ready to listen to what they have to say.
I think that exposure to the public via television and youtube is the best way to go for the two of them in particular--making themselves accessible to the media and the people will definitely win points this early on.
I am not very good at keeping up with political news. I was hoping this class would help with that. Although I might not be as informed on politics, I still feel that announcing the plan to run for president this early might end up hurting them. Yes, it is good that Hilary and Obama will get their names out there and also be able to state their opinions on issues I feel that in this day and age it will hurt them.
From this point on, these two will be watched very closely. Everything they say will be written down and everything they do will be video taped and eventually scrutinized. This could end up hurting their chance at becoming president. All the technology allows for every negative situation they get into to be broadcasted all over the world. I am very interested to see how these two will fair when the race gets very serious.
I agree that once one candidate comes out there is a great deal of pressure for everyone to announce their campaign plans. I think both Hillary and Barak could have done better in terms of announcing their candidacy. I do applaud them both for using the internet which is a new form of media and will play a huge role in the election, but I feel that making the announcement on TV would have been more personal, and would have given the public more of a reason to react. It also however would have created a media frenzy, and maybe that isn’t what they wanted, especially because they came out with their decisions so early. As far as media coverage and scrutiny goes, I feel that Hillary is used to being in the spotlight and will be able to handle it, more so than the other candidates. She also has the help and support of her husband who has been through it, and despite his promiscuity, he still came out of his presidency with a good reputation.
And I did not know that Guliani is going to run!? I may be partial because I am from New York City and my father is a firefighter who had to deal with 9/11, but I feel he would do a great job.
I agree with Theresa Weston. I think it was a good decision for Clinton and Obama to start so early simply because their gender and race is unfortunately something that will be a distraction from their political views. The early announcement will give citizens who are used to the cookie cutter white male politicians some time to aquaint themselves with the reality that two big politicians might break the mold and become our president in 2008.
Like previous posts, it has come up that since the candidates have announced their running they are under a microscope. I hope the media focuses more on their qualifications rather than their demographic and the most qualified don't bow out because of the sustained scrutiny.
Rachel Shiff
Candidates declaring early can be both a good and bad thing. I think that one can never start promoting to early because it gives the people a chance to get to know you, your stance on different topics. However at the same time it also can turn people off. I mean, the election is something that I like to watch and follow up on, but trying to do so for 2 years or even more can feel more like work instead of being a part of whats happening in our country.
I think Allyson made a great point in bringing up the fact that politics is something which is changing constantly. Will we have these candidates changing their opinion every few months just to gain more votes. Or will we have them stick to what their views were in the beginning. Either way it seems like lose, lose.
-Mike K
From Kellan O'Neill: Being the first to announce their name into the candidacy for the 2008 election is meaningless as of early 2007. By now all of the talk shows on the major media markets, mainly television will out play the upcoming election for its American citizens. It is true that Americans want immediate news, but just think of what they are going to say when it get closer to the election in 2008. The well will be run dry after discussing this topic for almost two years.
This will hurt candidates coming out early because it puts them in the spotlight that much earlier. It is now their responsibility to ensure the public that not only them, but their family is the right fit for the pressures of the White House. Besides the Clinton family, all of these candidate's families cannot begin to understand the relentless pursuit of the national media and their cameras. They must be on their best behavior to ensure that they do not lose their positive image in the publics’ eye, which is so easy to do.
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