Convention Politics and Beyond
Nailing the Political Nomination
The primary phase leads up to the convention phase, a four-day process where the each party nominates a single candidate for president. Fueled by the media, these conventions confer legitimacy on the candidate, therefore increasing their perceived quality and consequently improving their ability to acquire donations.
The Convention Process
The convention process is also highlighted by bargaining among party members. The old questions of “is this the time?” are relived as the party orchestrates which particular candidate are more likely to gain a strategic edge over the opposing party’s challenger. Parties know that in order to reaffirm their choice in presidential candidate, they must attract positive press attention that focuses on candidate quality and the developed positions a candidate takes on prominent issues.
Transitioning Communication Strategies and Tactics
Throughout the convention process the communication with the public focus shifts from inter-party strife to intra-party strife. By striking a chord of solidarity in the selection of a candidate, the party hopes to turn criticism away from itself and its members towards the opposing party. This is the most vital stage of communication because the convention process not only chooses the president, but also the vice presidential candidate-who may have also been a primary candidate. Communication with the public is necessary to ensure a solid, unified front in order to combat the challengers from another party. In this case, opposing incumbents are offered an opportunity to pick apart new partnerships. Incumbent administrations can capitalize upon a head start by using previous policies and successes as a basis for their future actions. They tend to have improved communication with the media as most scandals have already been dealt with in the open. Challengers must provide enough time to address the negative work of increased media scrutiny or risk attempting additional hurdles late in the game.
Limiting the Political Field
The convention phase is the most limiting phase as it may narrow four or five primary candidates down to a single presidential hopeful, marking the beginning of the general campaign phase. The media, organizational structure, and issue election are once again the primary focus of the general election. However, the strategic environment becomes the most prominent factor in the general election as opposing party candidates use both free and paid media to attack, defense, raise awareness, and gain credibility. The strategic environment must also take into account regional issue preferences such as conservative or liberal pockets and economic areas such as manufacturing or farming. Candidates tend to spend the most time in just seven core states and anticipated swing states.
Importance of Organizational Structure
The organizational structure is crucial in this case. Failure to address attacks in a timely manner can be devastating. Such was the case for John Kerry when he failed to address the Swiftboat Veterans for truth ads which attacked his previous military service, his status as a patriot, and his courage. Thus a flawless organizational basis is needed to ensure timely recovery from attacks. Challengers have an advantage if facing an incumbent with a low popularity rating or if the opposing challenger supports poor policies from the previous administration.
The Emergence of New Campaign Strategies with Obama
The 2008 Presidential Race changed the face of campaigning significantly. President Obama was able to gain an edge against Senator McCain by utilizing social networking sites efficiently. Additionally, Obama was able to utilize grassroots movements by pushing the movement online to YouTube, Facebook, and his campaign website which sent out (near) daily reports. His finance campaign shifted the focus from several large donors to numerous small donors. His campaign emails asked supporters to donate $5, $10, or $20 dollars every few weeks. This engaged the entirety of the population and not just a few select individuals. By recruiting people and their pocketbook’s online, Obama’s organizational structure was able to organize, create, and monitor exterior groups to increase awareness of the candidate, improve image, and quickly address McCain’s attacks on his inexperience.
The general election provides no room for error. Candidates must use previous political stages as training ground for the most complex election of them all. By utilizing media and good campaign structure, candidates can gain leverage in their election.
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