Lesson 3: Campaigning

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• Middelbare school
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• Leerjaar 3

Lesson 3: Campaigning

Introduction

Welcome to the third lesson of this online course on the U.S. presidential elections. In this lesson we will have a look at one of most remarkable parts of the election process called campaigning. In the previous lessons this topic has already been mentioned. Now it is time to have a closer look at this phenomenon. 

An U.S. presidential campaign usuallly takes nearly 2 years. Have a look a the following timeline of a random person who wants to run for president.

Once a person announces to run for president, the actual campaigning starts. Watch the video on Barack Obama announcing to run for president in 2008.

The Long road begins.If there’s one good thing about the excessive length of the American campaign period, it’s that it makes other countries feel better about their relativy short campaigns. Campaigning usually starts almost two years before Election Day, when the first candidates declare their intentions to run.

No money, no campaign. No ensure even making a change of becoming presidnet, you need funding. That means you need to look for companies, institutions and indvivuals who support you and want to provide with the much need cash.

Ans as you can see the picture below.... you need a lot of money.

Campaigning is:

• visiting states
  
• attend fundraisers
  
• travel, travel, travel
  
• speeches
  
• debates
  
• shake hands
  
• and much much more
  

all this cannot be accomplished without the presence of media. They play an enormous role in the entire campaign trail. As a candidate you want be all over the news. As much as possible, at least as long as it is positive.

Watch the video on Obama's campaign

You’ll notice that once the party nominees hit the campaign trail in autumn just before the general election, a handful of states receive a lot of attention. These are swing states, where razor-thin polling margins mean anyone could win. Most states are “safe," in that voters’ preferences are generally predictable. Candidates don’t waste resources on states where the outcome is certain, win or lose. Strategically, it makes sense to focus campaigns on trying to swing the undecided states

Watch the video on the 2016 Clinton and Trump campaigns. It gives you a brief summary of some campaigning highlights. Looka at the differences and similarities between the approaches of Clinton and Trump

TV Ads

In the summer of 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower, the general who led American forces to victory during World War II, was running for president. He met with advertising hotshot Rosser Reeves to discuss how to translate his military fame into political gain. The slick salesman sold the candidate on a dramatically new approach to television: a 30-second advertising spot campaign. Though more and more people owned a TV set, Eisenhouwer, whose nickname was Ike, initially resisted. Could he really express his qualifications and policy viewpoints in 30 seconds? It became the first TV ad in a presidential campaign, many would follow. Now watch this first TV ad.

Political ads can communicate, persuade, and even entertain. A 30-second ad can be an effective tool for convincing voters to support a candidate. Ads can target general or specific audiences, and they can be effective or ineffective in different ways and for different reasons. They use emotion, persuasion, factual claims, and cinematic style to tinfluence voters.

Answer the following question to see if you know the terms mentioned above mean.

Cause (someone) to believe something, especially after a sustained effort.

1. Emotion
2. factual claim
3. persuation
4. cinematic style

The art of filmmaking and visual storytelling in general refers to the composition, colour, type of film, camera, lenses, costumes, set design, hair and makeup, filters, editing, effects and music used.

1. Emotion
2. factual claim
3. persuation
4. cinematic style

A strong feeling deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others.

1. Emotion
2. factual claim
3. persuation
4. cinematic style

Verifiable information such as statistics, specific examples, and personal testimony.

1. Emotion
2. factual claim
3. persuation
4. cinematic style

To give you some more in-depth information on TV ads you are going to look at an ads from Joe Biden and Donald Trump who are running for president in 2020

TV Debates

In this part we will have a look at one of the most decisive elements of the election process: TV debates. In the previous lessons these debates have already been mentioned. In The Netherlands we see these debates more and more during election time. In the U.S. it is one most important parts of the election campaign.

Presidential debates play a key role in election campaigns. It is a direct confrontation between the two candidates, they often make a diferrence in the outcome of the elections. The first debate was held in 1960 between John f. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. It was immediately decisive.

According to the dictionary a debate is A formal discussion on a particular matter in a public meeting or legislative assembly, in which opposing arguments are put forward and which usually ends with a vote.

old vs new

See how debates evolved from the first debate ever until the most recent one.