1. Election Campaigns Section 1
Understanding Elections
Chapter 12

3. Television and the 1960 Election
Nixon, Kennedy, and the Cold War
Democrat John F. Kennedy focused on the Cold War to criticize the Republican Richard M. Nixon.
The Presidential Debate
First televised debate
Kennedy was tanned and wore stage makeup; Nixon did not
Different opinions between radio listeners and TV viewers about who won the debate
The Debate’s Aftermath
Kennedy won the election by fewer than 120,000 votes
Television’s effects on viewers’ impressions

5. Campaign Planning Campaign Staff Campaign Strategy
A campaign informs the public about the candidate and the party’s platform, their stand on important topics.
Campaign Staff
Campaign Manager
Finance Chair
Pollster
Media Coordinator
Scheduler
Issue Advisers, others
Campaign Strategy
Identify Supporters
Conduct polls to identify where most support is
Target the Message
Use polls and focus groups to learn which issues most important to supporters.
Package the Candidate
Manage media coverage of candidate’s image and message

8. Conducting a Campaign On the Campaign Trail Tackling the Issues
Candidates spend most of campaign time on swing states: where support for candidates is about equal, or in states where their support is greatest
Tackling the Issues
— Candidates use stump speeches, or standard speeches usually less than minutes long, express candidate’s beliefs On key issues.
— Many candidates use slogans
Negative Campaigning
— Candidates may use negative campaigning, attacks on opposing
candidate’s weaknesses

9. Conducting a Campaign Campaigns and the Media — Broadcast Media
Campaign’s media coordinator uses voters’ ages to determine which type of media to use to reach them.
— Broadcast Media
Television, photos, radio.
Media often use sound bites of candidates’ speeches
— Print Media
Newspapers, magazines, especially ads
Often more detailed than broadcast; editorials influential
— The Internet
Blogs, online editions of print media, TV news
Polls and Polling
Polls can show where support is weakest; show which demographic may support the candidate; influence voters

10. Vocabulary
Platform
a party’s stand on important issues and the party’s general principles
Focus Group
a small gathering of people whose response to something is studied and
used to predict the response of a larger population
Swing States
states where support for each candidate is about equal
Stump Speech
a standard speech that candidates give during a campaign
Negative Campaigning
attacking the opponent during a campaign
Sound Bite
a very brief segment of a speech or statement
Demographic
a population group defined by a specific characteristic or set of
characteristics