Political Campaigns for 2008
by Shannon Geis
Look through a magazine, national newspaper, or turn on the news. You are likely to hear something about the 2008 Presidential Election. Although George W. Bush has more than a year and a half left as our president, talk has turned towards whom his successor will be. The possible candidates are vying for money and endorsements to help make their campaign the most successful. But campaigns did not always start so far in advance. It was not long ago that the party conventions, which are held in late summer, held the complete power to choose their candidates. The top nominee from each party only had a few precious months to campaign.
Now state primaries and caucuses choose candidates, and politicians announce their candidacy a year in advance. A host of candidates are raising money and campaigning all across the country to win votes in the primary elections scheduled for next year. It seems a bit ridiculous to have them campaigning so far in advance.
Because of the long campaign, the loss of focus in these candidate' campaigns becomes an issue. While they work hard to become what some might call a brand name within households, the issues facing the country and the candidate's plan to fix them tend to be absent. The primary campaigns tend to spotlight the personality and popularity of a particular candidate rather than his or her ability to run a stable government.
Consider Barack Obama's group on Facebook.com called One Million Strong. The group calls on people to join and spread the word about Barack Obama's candidacy and sets goals on gaining membership. This group has sparked many other groups for and against the Senator. However, not much on Obama's views and plans is discussed.
Obama is not the first nor is he the only one to try using the Internet for campaigning. Howard Dean tried unsuccessfully in 2004, but created a precedent for many of the candidates for 2008. Hillary Clinton has posted videos on her website featuring her answering questions that have been emailed to her, and John Edwards has hired bloggers to promote his campaign. New technology and networking may be a good way to boost popularity, but it didn't work for Howard Dean in 2004. Whether it will work for any of the candidates in 2008 is yet to be seen.
There is another important change happening to the campaign this election. Since primaries and caucuses have become the method used to select party nominees, it has commonly been New Hampshire's primary and Iowa's caucus that have kicked off the season. Gradually, the dates for these events have moved earlier and earlier with the 2004 primary season beginning in early to mid-March. The fact that these two small states have such an impact on the primaries by being the first has always sparked a bit of controversy. However, 2008 will be quite different. Larger and more moderate states have decided to move their primaries and caucuses earlier in the year so that the issues they want to address will be more prominent within the campaign. Basically, these states such as California - which officially moved its primary up just recently to February - want to have a major impact on who gets nominated.
Some might suggest that a national primary would be a reasonable solution to all of the controversy around which states hold their primaries and caucuses first. However, creating a national primary would cause candidates to have to campaign all across the country at the same time. There would be no particular areas that candidates could focus on first and therefore would have to spend much more money trying to gain popularity across the entire country. Donations could possibly be much harder to gain for candidates because there would not be earlier primaries to use as examples of popularity.
With more moderate states, such as California, being some of the first to hold primaries next year, campaign strategy must change as well. Because the small states that have traditionally kicked off the primaries tend to be farther to the left or right, candidates have had to contour to their wants in order to win primaries and caucuses. But with larger, more moderate states coming to the forefront, moderate candidates such as Rudy Giuliani may have an advantage over candidates such as John McCain, who has recently shifted his views further to the right. Overall, this fact could have a significant change on who makes it to the general election in November 2008.
With all the buzz around the 2008 election so early, it is bound to be an interesting event to watch. That is, of course, if the public does not get tired of listening to all of the campaigning before the general election even happens!
Sources:
1. "Barack Obama (One Million Strong)" group. Accessed: March 17, 2007.;www.facebook.com>.
2. Kurtzman, Laura. "California Moves Up Presidential Primary." Posted: March 16th, 2007. <www.losangeleschronicle.com>.
3. Vargas, Jose Antonio. "Young Voters Find Voice on Facebook." Posted: Feb. 17th, 2007. <http://washingtonpost.com.>.
