The Campaign Process Chapter 14 The Campaign Process

The Campaign Process Chapter 14

The Campaign Process ✦ We will cover ✦ The Structure of a Campaign ✦ The Candidate for the Campaign ✦ Which do we vote for? ✦ Modern Campaign Challenges ✦ Contributions and Expenses ✦ Campaign Finance Laws ✦ Media

Nature of Modern Campaigns ✦ Most electoral contests are similar in a number of ways ✦ ✦ Nomination campaign - aimed at winning primary General Election campaign - aimed at winning the final race

Differences--Presidential vs. Congressional Campaigns ✦ Role of incumbency ✦ Public Financing ✦ Less Media Coverage ✦ Most House races not competitive ✦ Senate races a bit more competitive

Presidential Campaign ✦ Decision to run - Personal ✦ Formal vs Informal Qualifications ✦ Battle for nomination ✦ Convention ✦ General Election ✦ After the Election

Candidates and Staff ✦ Candidates run (or don’t run) for a number of reasons ✦ Volunteers focus on canvassing and get out the vote ✦ Personal staff led by campaign manager ✦ Also have finance chair, pollster, Internet team ✦ Communications director, direct mailer, press secretary ✦ Campaign and media consultants may be hired

Assembling a Campaign Staff ✦ A candidate, volunteers, campaign consultants, and a paid staff make up the campaign ✦ Volunteers focus on canvassing and getting out the vote ✦ The paid staff ✦ campaign manager ✦ finance chair ✦ communications staff ✦ press secretary

Figure 14. 1: How is a campaign staff organized?

Do We Vote for the Candidate or the Campaign? ✦ ✦ ✦ The most important factor in any campaign is the candidate (he/she is even more important than money) Usually the best candidate wins Campaigns are able (most of the time) to downplay a candidate's weaknesses and emphasize their strengths However, even the best campaigns cannot put an ineffective candidate in the win column - most of the time ✦ Most people vote for a candidate not the campaign ✦ Personality - Party - Issues

Toward Reform: The 2008 Presidential Campaign ✦ Nomination campaigns: long and contentious. The party conventions: – Democrats nominate Barack Obama and Joe Biden. – Republicans nominate John Mc. Cain and Sarah Palin. The General Election Campaign – Three presidential and one vice-presidential debate – Election was close until the final weeks. – Obama eventually won the popular vote, 53 -46.

Election Results and Analysis ✦ Obama made gains in South and West. ✦ Highest voter turnout and biggest Democratic win since 1964. ✦ Obama’s choice not to use public financing helped him. ✦ African Americans and women were keys for Obama.

The Role of the Media ✦ Media can be paid or free; new media blur the line ✦ Paid media usually takes the form of spot ads ✦ It is well controlled by the campaign ✦ Ads may be negative, positive, contrast, or inoculation ✦ Free media is usually news coverage ✦ It is difficult for the campaign to control ✦ New media include Internet, e-mail, phone messages

The Media and Campaigns ✦ ✦ ✦ What voters hear and see of the candidate is primarily determined by ✦ Paid media ✦ Free Media The amount, form, and content of paid media are dictated by the campaign Free media consists of independent press coverage

Strategies to Control the Media ✦ Isolating the candidate from the media ✦ Holding staged media events ✦ Using spin ✦ Sound bites ✦ Talk shows ✦ Appearing on talk shows or in Candidate debates

Campaign Advertisements ✦ Positive ad ✦ Negative ad ✦ Contrast ad ✦ Inoculation ad ✦ Fear ad

Paid Media ✦ Positive ad ✦ ✦ Advertising on behalf of a candidate that stresses the candidate’s qualifications, family, and issue positions, without reference to the opponent Negative ad ✦ Advertising on behalf of a candidate that attacks the opponent’s platform or character (inoculation/respond)

✦ Contrast ad ✦ ✦ Spot ad ✦ ✦ Ad that compares the records and proposals of the candidates, with a bias toward the sponsor Television advertising on behalf of a candidate that is broadcast in sixty, thirty, or ten second durations Inoculation ad ✦ Advertising that attempts to counteract an anticipated attack from the opposition before the attack is launched

New Media ✦ 24 Hour news cycle ✦ Celebrity robo-calls ✦ Web campaigns and You. Tube

Free Media ✦ Coverage of the campaign ✦ Newsworthy ✦ View candidates with suspicion ✦ Obsessed with the “horserace” ✦ Expectations and predictions

Contributions and Expenses ✦ ✦ Campaigns are VERY expensive House races can cost over $1 million but usually cost $400700, 000 for incumbents, less for challengers Senate races cost much more All political money is regulated by the federal government under the Federal Elections Campaign Act of 1971, 1974, and 1976

Sources of Campaign Funding ✦ Individuals ✦ Political Action Committees (PACS) ✦ Member PACS ✦ Personal Savings ✦ Public Funds ✦ Soft Money groups: 527 political committees and 501(c) groups

Figure 14. 2: How do PACs allocate their campaign contributions?

Personal Contributions ✦ ✦ ✦ In Buckley vs. Valeo (1976) the Supreme Court struck down limits on personal campaign spending Spending your own money on your campaign is a free speech right Steve Forbes, Ross Perot, and other wealthy Americans have taken advantage of their personal wealth in their quest for office

Table 14. 1: What are the individual contribution limits under BCRA?

Figure 14. 2: How do PACs allocate their campaign contributions?