What is the most "honest campaign" ever in politics? Who was involved? What were the issues? Why is it the most "honest campaign" ever?
This was a hard question to answer. It was so broad I could not find a real answer on this, because there is never an "honest campaign" in politics. My original thoughts were that politcs in our earliest years in a nation would be honest, before entertainment became so important to the America public. I was very wrong. Every campaign, starting from the first presidential election (not including George Washington) has had some kind of political slander. John Adams used "whisper campaigns" against Alexander Hamilton to win the election of 1796, and Thomas Jeffeson was an even bigger victim of political slander in the presidential election of 1800 when Adams exposed Jefferson having three children with his slave. There never been an honest campaign where there was a competition. Negative campaigning does have pros, for example, we would not know about Thomas Jefferson's scandal without this negative campaigning because it would never have been documented if Adams had not used it in his campaign. In a way someone could argue negative campainig keeps politicans honest, but slander is so biased many voters don't know what to trust. Bias is a painful but realistic part of politics, and we as voters have had to sift through it to get the truth in every election in history.
In Class This Week:
A) This week we learned about political ad analysis. We used local politics to examine what makes a candidate look professional, taking into account the race for our district's house representative. The republican, Eric Cantor, is the incumbent and has been for years. The democrat, Rick Waugh, is--to say the least- very unprofessional. While Cantor's TV ads are professionally done, short, sweet, to the point and effective--Rick Waugh's main ad on his website is Waugh rambling on about issues for five minutes while pretending to fish. He never looks at the camera, and talks away from the microphone, mumbling from time to time and talking in circles about the "issues" with no solutions. The second day of class this week we had to present an analysis of a political ad we chose from a historical website. I thought it was very interesting to see all the political ads, and realize that in when Eisenhower ran for president all the way to Obama, there was a form of negative campaigning in virtually every election, as I stated earlier. I analyzed the most popular ad in the class, Obama's first general election ad. It was entitiled "Country I Love." Many people chose Obama because his advertisements and campaign was, I believe, one of the most influential in history. If anything, Obama knows how to speak to a crowd, and is very personable on commericals. He also literally speaks in virtue words. From everything to patriotism to his country, to working hard and living the "American Dream" to good values and morale, you can't disagree with practically anything he says in his first commercial. However, I did realize he had lots of background information about himself, which I found out was because of whisper campaigns (just like in the first elections of the United States!) from the McCain office, and so it was necessary for him to clarify where he grew up and who he lived with. Lastly, this week we began a new documentary called "The Divided State" about a college in the most conservative town, in the most conservative and mormon state in America--Utah-- that invited Michael Moore to speak to their students. I will save commentary on "The Divided State" for next week.
Cantor
vs.
Waugh
B) When studying the local politics of Virginia, I find it obvious that this year's Republican candidate for the 11th district, Eric Cantor, is by far the favorite. Accoring to virginiapolitics.com, the House seat is called to be a "safe republican" victory. Why shouldn't it be when the the democratic party has such a weak candidate and Cantor is loaded with monetary funds? Another statistic I found showed Cantor spending $4,522,918 dollars on his campaign, and still has $1,408,116 left to spend, while Rick Waugh has spent $83,378 and only has a pathetic $2,168 to spend. Over a million compared to two thousand...no wonder Eric Cantor comes to look so professional! However, there are two sides to this...all of Cantor's money is financed by individual donations and the PAC, while Waugh had to put in $805 of his own money to to finace himself, but the majority of his money ($79,000) comes from individual contributions. In short my point is: Money makes you look better, but that money probably comes from supporters. The more supporters you have, the more money you get, the better a candidate will look to the public.
C) The politics and entertainment of today correlates with the funding of a campaign. The more funding, the more professional, the more entertaining. It all correlates with each other to make a successful campaign. Barack Obama would not have won without such powerful campaigning, as is the truth throughout all campagins. Why are people attracted to the new political parties forming, such as "The Tea Party" and "The Rent is Too Damn High" party? Because they're entertaining! Neither party will ever make a serious effect on the political scene, but their entertainment, slogans and even the names of their parties draw people's attention.
Question for Next Week:
Find out about the Tea Party and Rent Is Too Damn High Party. What are their platforms? Who are their leaders? Why are they formed? Will they make an effect on the the elections?
Sources:
"Congressional Elections: Virginia District 07 Race: 2000 Cycle | OpenSecrets." OpenSecrets.org: Money in Politics -- See Who's Giving & Who's Getting. Web. 27 Oct. 2010. http://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary.php?id=VA07&cycle=2000.
Drake, By Bruce. "Virginia 7 House Race Tag at Politics Daily." Politics News, Elections Coverage, Political Analysis and Opinion. Web. 27 Oct. 2010. http://www.politicsdaily.com/tag/Virginia%207%20House%20Race/.
The American Pageant. Houghton Mifflin College Div, 2006. Print.
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