U.S Elections: Running A Campaign
[We continue our Election Series with a look at Presidential Campaigns]
Last week, Newt Gingrich -- the last of the Republican hopefuls announced his plans to withdraw officially on May 1st and throw his support behind Mitt Romney. With the largest delegate count so far, Romney is sure to win the Presidential nomination at the Republican convention in August.
Meanwhile, Democratic President Barack Obama who will be running for his second term in office announced the start of his campaign with two rallies planned on May 5th in Ohio and Virginia.
What is a campaign and what does it take to run one. Lets take a look.
What is a campaign?
A presidential political campaign is an opportunity for would-be leaders to define their vision for the country and rally people behind them. While George Washington was unanimously elected to become the first President of a free nation, the first contested election was between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. However, the candidates themselves were not allowed to campaign.
Nowadays, running a campaign is one of the most challenging and exhausting activities possible. It begins with identifying a staff of people who will manage the campaign, planning for and raising money, determining the right strategy and message, and finally implementing it. Implementing a campaign may involve advertisements, town hall meetings to show how the candidates relate to the common man, seeking the endorsement of public figures -- movie stars or ex-presidents, and using all means of communication including social media (Facebook and Twitter).
Campaigns sometimes do get ugly, especially when candidates launch negative messages to discredit the other. They have to defend themselves against attacks not just from the opposing candidates but from PACs -- political organizations that campaign for or against candidates.
What is Campaign Finance?
The success of a campaign depends on how much money the candidates raise. Everything from ads to TV airtime, flights, hotels, campaign staff, renting an event space and catering food costs money -- and loads of it!
Campaigns raise funds from private individual donors or public corporations. Your parents may receive phone calls or email messages from party supporters requesting them to contribute. The wealthy candidates will put in a substantial amount of their own money in their campaigns as well.
There is a limit however on how much an individual or corporation can contribute. Candidates have to report all funds that were received and will be used towards their campaign, to the FEC (Federal Election Commission) that monitors the election for fairness. However, there are always loopholes and workarounds and candidates don't report how they spend every penny received. The misuse of campaign funds has prompted calls for reforming the system, but it is hard for politicians to change a system that they themselves have come to depend upon.
Presidential campaigns are a very important step -- more so in the 2012 election where both candidates are running neck to neck. Each will be trying to win over the 20% of independent, undecided voters who hold the key to their win!
The First Televised Debate
Millions of Americans watched Richard Nixon debate John F. Kennedy in 1960, but the new technology produced a surprising result. TV viewers were convinced that the young, handsome Kennedy had outperformed the pale and weary-looking Nixon, but those who had listened to the debate on the radio disagreed.
Resources :
Romney get lost win in the 2016 election.Obama Rules!
Get lost obama Romney is taking over
I really really think that obama is going to win.
i dont no because i think mitt romney is really wealthy and doesnt know how to be normal but if he wins maybe just maybe he will do something good for the U.S
I want Romney to be president and not obama
who knows who will win
i hope Mitt Romney wins
Go Obama! I think Obama is doing a great job, I support Obama!:D
I STILL THINK BARACK OBAMA WILL WIN
Even though I think President Barack Obama is doing a great job running the country, I do kind of feel bad for Newt Gingrich on dropping out of the race! I still think Barack Obama is going to win the election.
this is long
Im for newt
i really want obama to win the election! come on Obama!
I never knew in an election that was money involved.
It must be really hard but also interesting to fund a campaign but also hard I bet. I wonder which president will try harder and win the election and the 20% percent of peoples freedom and the name of president of the United States of America.
I think Obama is better,because I'm living here because him. And I think Mitt Romney is going to do bad thing for us and not him,and I'm thinking that his thinking he can do what ever he want.
It must cost quite a lot of money to run a campaign. I hope that both president's do good in the election; it will be interesting to see who comes out on top! I remember hearing on the news that Romney was way ahead of the other Republican candidates. Obviously he is going to go up against Obama; an interesting battle for sure! It doesn't seem like one is definitely better than the other, they are both great politicians and would both be great presidents (in Obama's case: a great president again!)
i wonder who's gonna win
Newt Gingrich would be awesome...
This is going from bad to bad because so may people go for Obama and so many for MittRomney...but go Obama!:)
Personaly i like Obama but we should experiment try something new so maybe we should have another president
Why continue with this system? You know how much money is wasted each year in campaigns? what the US really needs is a communist government, which will also free us of 99% protests.
Communist government? Are you serious? Do you know what happens to Communist governments? THEY FALL! Russia had a Communist government. Not only did it rid the people of any wealth they had, but if forced men into the army to fight and die for the country. It decimated the technology growth. It killed religious freedom and killed innocents. Communist governments are bad. They have been proven so. Where is Russia compared to America? Where are the Chinese freedoms compared to America? Where are the Vietnamese compared to America?
yeah!
But you know how crazy Communist governments can get! It makes dictatorships, the country goes poor! Do you really want an American Adolf Hitler?!
Booooo Mitt Romney!! One reason: he says he will grow the military until it so large that nobody would ever think of challenging it. It's not the size of the military that's the problem, it's the Government throwing soldiers in useless places!
Ron Paul has a much better idea, bring the troops home, problem pretty much solved.
I wouldn't exactly boo Mitt Romney, because I do believe a large military is essential for America to keep it's power and spread peace. BUT, I do agree that the government throws American troops EVERYWHERE... I mean, we have soldiers in almost every nation, keeping peace and preventing outbreaks.
I thought running a campaing was really easy ,but turns out to be very challenging.GO mitt romney
Good luck Mitt Romney!!
It always gets so intense!
Let's go Mitt Romney !!!
I am happy to hear that Newt is supporting Mitt Romney because the way when Santorum dropped out and how he said he didn't really fully support Romney that got me kind of mad because in my opinion i think santorum should have stood behind romney right after he dropped out.
The election is heating up!
Wow! Running a campaign sounds like hard work! Gobama!
its cool how many things are involved
i think they are both good
I support Ron Paul too. He has good views on matters like how the fed. is so off the constitution.
And he has seen a lot of things in his life and has some good ideas on how to fix it.
I think Obama is a very good president. I hope he gets elected for a second term. He has done some very great things for our country. Plus, Michelle Obama is fantastic too! She is so nice and easy-going.
I don't know a bout Obama on the issues, so I will wait until the debates between the party nominations.
Youngzine, can candidates that drop-out give there delegates to a candidate still in the race?
Great question Kiwi_BJ. Firstly, we are very impressed with your knowledge and interest in the U.S Election process, living in New Zealand.
As to your question -- depending on the states, a candidate's delegates can be binding or nonbinding. If you remember our article here on Primaries and Caucuses (http://www.youngzine.com/article/us-elections-race-begins), a state may have a winner-take-all delegates or assign delegates proportionally according to a candidate's win. These are binding delegates.
Some states have what is called non-binding delegates -- they are free to choose whomever they want. So, when we talk of transferring delegates, we are talking only about the binding ones.
Now, when a candidate like Gingrich drops out, he can pledge his binding delegates to another; or they can be released, and free to choose whomever they want. Some states however require that the delegates vote for their original candidate (even though they have dropped out) for one to two rounds in the convention and then they are free to choose. Quite complex, isnt it!
Just to make things easy I like to think of delegates as points, but are delegates really a (in proportional states) percentage of people that have voted for a candidate?
Yes, in states that use the proportional system, the percentage of votes won determines how many delegates a candidate gets.
You might want to check out THIS resource that explains the delegates process in detail and which states follow which system.
Thanks.
To be a president must be hard because you have to try and please everyone and some people won't like it
There are two strategies:
1. Please everyone and your supporters will like you. This is what most canidates try to do. Like John McCain and Newt Gingrich.
2. Be extremely conservative or extremely liberal. You will have more enemies, but your supporters will LOVE you. Just like Sarah Palin and Obama.
American Elections are always the most
Entertaining. I wonder who will win the French
One?
Woah!
Presidency is a big thing!
Kind of scary though...
Do you know how elections work in Cambodia?