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 McCain 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,

Election Results and Analysis ✦ Obama made gains in South and West. ✦ Highest voter turnout and biggest Democratic win since ✦ 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, , 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 ✦ Ad that compares the records and proposals of the candidates, with a bias toward the sponsor ✦ Spot ad ✦ 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

✦ 24 Hour news cycle ✦ Celebrity robo-calls ✦ Web campaigns and YouTube New Media

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 $ ,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?