Caucus News from Drake

First in the Nation

Travel with Students in POLS 115, a new Politics course taught by Professor Arthur Sanders.  The course, entitled "The Presidential Nominating Process" requires that all students also complete a 3 credit caucus internship.  Each student will submit news, reports, and pictures from the campaign trail in Iowa.

Campaign finance was the most recent discussion for the class. Most students showed concern for the amount of money needed to run a modern campaign:

Paul Larson, an intern with Senator Joe Biden's (D) campaign said this:
It is a sad realization that money can topple the best candidates.  Early seed money can
make or break a campaign, which gives a huge advantage to Washington insiders.  They are
people who can raise money and form a formidable campaign.  However they are not the
people who have a strong resume, charisma, or intelligence.  One can counter this claim
by looking at the example of Senator Biden.  If anyone is part of the Washington
insiders, it would be him.  He has been in the Senate practically his whole life and now
holds powerful committee positions.  Why doesn’t he have more money?  I do not know. 
During the post democratic debate analysis, a commentator said that if people like
Richardson and Biden did this well at the beginning of the campaign, it would be a
completely different race.  Regardless, money plays a vital, but worrisome role in
today’s democracy.

Kari Gronemeyer, a junior took this view:
Money is the driving force of campaigns.  The objective is more to craft the message to
appeal to the voters and to raise the money, then craft another message to appeal to
more voters and raise more money.  It is a never ending cycle emphasizing money and who
has the most. Instead of covering issues, the media pays more attention to who is
fundraising the most and what are they spending it on.  Perfect example is when Edwards'
$400 haircut made the news.  Voters and supporters are encouraged to attend dinners
costing 1000s of dollars a plate or go to events where so much money buys you the access
to take a picture with the candidate or other influential supporter.  The amount raised
by today’s campaigns far surpasses previous campaigns and causes candidates to have one
issue in the front of their mind, money.  Although there have been numerous attempts to
curtail the drive for money, few reforms actually have any lasting effect and only
create additional obstacles for a campaign to creatively get around. 

As more candidates take to the airwaves in the last few weeks leading up to the caucuses, here are a few reflections on what some POLS 115 students have been seeing on the TV sets:

Matt Clark, a Drake junior has been covering the campaigns for Iowapolitics.com:

In some ads running currently, the entire commercial is one long shot from one campaign stop, unedited, uninterrupted.  The reason I think that is an important distinction is that is leaves the viewer feeling more like what the candidate is saying is true.  That is, by not splicing together different sound bytes into a montage of speeches, we the audience feel more confident in what the candidate is saying, and that they are broadcasting that same message to audiences across the country in person.

Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have such ads.  Clinton is talking to a large group about her listening tour, what is means, and how she will continue to listen to the people as president.  Obama's ad is him talking to a smaller group, addressing oil prices and the need for U.S. auto companies to build cars with better MPG ratings.

In both cases, the ad conveys the idea that the candidates mean what they say, and take the time to talk about it in great length.  More importantly, the viewer now feels they have seen the candidate speaking in person, which is always more genuine than a TV commercial.

Julia Conte is a junior and intern for Senator Barack Obama (D-IL):

One entitled "Quiet" pictures him talking to a small group of voters in a town hall setting.  I feel that even without hearing him speak, the setting creates the image of a different kind of politics.  With such a small group, the candidate must be listening and engaged with the concerns of voters.  Barack is not talking about issues as much as he implies honesty.  This is done by explaining, "we don't need to tell people what they want to hear, we need to tell them what they need to hear."  Another important tool used by campaigns in commercials is surrogates talking on behalf of the candidate.  This works to create an image and communicate to the viewer that the candidate has support.  It shows that the candidates image and message has spread to others, increasing the candidate's appeal.  Obama's campaign has done this with an ad entitled "Gulf" featuring General McPeak.  He endorses the senator and talks about his judgement.

The students of POLS 115 turned their attention to the relationship between campaigns and media in the last weeks of October. They were asked to reflect on how their campaigns seek and treat media attention and the way media portrays and covers candidates. Students' understanding with also increased by a talk with Iowans for Hillary communication director Mark Daley, as he stressed the importance of consistent message to campaigns:

Jill Shesol is an intern with the John Edwards (D-NC) campaign:

It's interesting working on the Edwards campaign and seeing what does or does not receive media coverage.  It almost seems sometimes as if Hillary Clinton gets media for sneezing, or laughing, whereas John Edwards can release a major policy and receive nothing.  The campaign definitely does a number of things that are aimed at getting media attention.  Recently at a town hall type meeting, the Senator made a plea to voters not to vote for the best politician, but to vote for the best president.  It was a drop in the bucket in terms of what occurred in the meeting, but it received notice from David Yepsen, as well as several other outlets, including of course Mr. Matt Clark of IowaPolitics.com.  Maybe I just have an untrained political ear, but I did not expect the Senators sincere ending evoke any media coverage. So what I've taken away from my time with the campaign and my time as a news junkie, is that there is no telling what's going to make it as news.

Susan Shutty is helping Senator Barack Obama's (D-IL) campaign"

I am sure everyone has heard of Obama's pin ordeal that happened about 2-3 weeks ago. I was watching the news when it first became public that "Barack Obama refuses to wear American flag pin" and the story following spun it pretty negatively against him. Obama stated in an interview, when asked about it, that he felt he could show his patriotism better than by just wearing a pin on his label. The next day down at Obama HQ, while making calls, at least three different people asked me what he was thinking with the "flag thing." I simply answered that the media made a big deal about nothing - he just preferred not to wear the pin and hopes he can make his patriotism clear through his words. During a canvass that following Saturday, a man and a woman at two different houses asked the field organizer I was with and me about the "flag thing" as well. I could not believe that so many people had sucked up what the media had spun on such a small story. The field organizer answered similar to the way I had answered people on the phone a few days earlier. This was a first hand experience in just how large an affect the media can have in the way they report the "news." For a person who doesn't pay much attention to what's going on in politics, but sees on their five o'clock news station that one candidate will not wear their American flag pin - could potentially have an affect on what they think of that candidate if details were not looked into further. On the other hand, the news station probably did not have that intent, but instead was looking for something juicy to report on that day and knew very well that proof of patriotism sends ripples in our society today. Has anyone else had to deal first hand with a small stance from their candidate that the media made into a bigger story?

Randy Weigand is interning for frm Senator Fred Thomspon (R-TN):

How the media covers a political campaign and how they spin the facts that come out during the course of the campaign can play a crucial role in determining who wins the nomination and ultimately the general election.  There is often a vast difference between how the top tier candidates are portrayed and how the lower tiered candidates are shown. Adil already discussed the treatment that Ron Paul was given after the Republican debate in Michigan last week and i think that is very indicative of what little respect the lower tiered candidates are accorded by the national media.  The national media as a whole is unsure of how to treat my candidate, Fred Thompson, mainly due to the fact that he entered the race so late.  Heading into the debate last week, most of the talk surrounding Thompson was about how it was his first debate with his fellow Republican candidates.  While his national numbers are running a clear 2nd to Rudy (even neck and neck in some polls), he is not regarded as one of the front-runners yet and in some media circles is still in the 2nd tier.  That is one of the major things that our campaign is concerned with is trying to get our candidate regarded by the media as a major player in the nomination race and to try and get him the respect that he deserves as a legitimate contender.

For the first blog entry of the course students were asked to reflect on field work in the campaigns they are interning for. Specifically they were called on by Professor Sanders to answer on importance of field work, the field environment of the caucuses, and to share their experience with others and comment on the stories of their fellow classmates. Below are selected student entries:

Sarah Cutshall is an intern for Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS):

Fieldwork is the heart of the campaign.  To many people the field representative is the image of the campaign.  Ordinary citizens go to the field representative with questions and comments about the campaign, needless to say field reps must be good with people and planning. As we blogged about earlier in this course field planning is essential for a campaign to survive.  A field rep needs a plan for a goal to work towards; field work can be long and daunting but having a goal in mind keeps them motivated and makes their life seem less like a needle in a hay stack.  The first thing every field rep (or for that matter anyone who has ever worked on a campaign does is phone calls) is phone calls.  Phone calls can be daunting task, sometimes people are mean and nasty, you get hung up on and there are always a few wrong numbers on the list.  But phone calls are the best way to identify who supports the candidate.  Personal phone calls are best, everyone hates to listen to a recorded message from an automatic dialer.  Personal phone calls also allow the potential supporter on the other end of the line to ask questions and receive input on questions they have from the campaign.  Once a campaign has identified who supports them it is time to sell or get them excited about the next step.  Once a person is identified as a supporter the next step is to get them involved.  Ask him or her to come and volunteer to walk in a parade or make phone calls in the office.  Getting people more involved with a campaign helps to motivate the base as Wayne talked about.  The more people who become volunteer the larger your base becomes.  After a supporter becomes a volunteer they may also become a precinct or block captain.  A precinct captain has their own little field to be a representative for.  (a precinct captain is a miniature version of a field rep)  The key to winning an election is identifying your supporters and building them up to recruit more supporters which continues to build your campaign.  Often times field reps have goals for the number of phone calls they need to make each day and the number of precinct captains they need to find each week.  While door knocking can be effective in extremely targeted areas the costs usually out-weigh the benefits.  From what I have seen phone calls are the best way.  So, happy phone calling this semester everyone. 


Rix Thorsell is an intern for Senator Joe Biden (D-DE):
I must also say that while phone banking and voter identification are dull and sometimes disheartening, you learn quite a bit about the everyday people who are part of the Iowa political field. While I haven't learned too much substantively about campaigning, I have gained a respect for those who work to energize the grass roots movement and are involved in the low profile, un-rewarded, grunt work that actually makes the campaign move forward. And I have discovered that while size is important, experience at running a campaign like this is equally
valued. How well individuals know where to look for support is critical in moving up in the polls, and only by portraying a clear and firm message can support grow.

Ashley Pospeschil is an intern for Senator Barack Obama (D-IL):
Several news stories have recently been published describing the Obama campaign's field work as incredible, something that has never been done before. We have more offices throughout Iowa than any other campaign,
the next of which has ten less than us. This is important in Iowa because the more offices and staff members we have, the more people we can talk to and the closer our bonds with those people can be. Field is one of our most important and definitely most time-intensive work in this campaign. We have a huge staff devoted to this task. Roger Simon said, "This is the unglamorous, arduous drudge work that in Iowa is absolutely essential." We have staff that carries supporter cards in their cars and we stop people every chance we get to recruit supporters and we encourage our faithful followers to do the same. Our candidate talked about this task the other day, outlining what we need everyone to do to help us out. Roger Simon also said, "that Obama did bother with it is the most important sign I have seen that he actually understands Iowa."

 

News and Pictures from Drake events

Drake Hosts ABC's This Week with George Stephanopolous The Iowa Debates

About The Iowa Debates August 3, 2007

The Republican Candidates August 5, 2007

Drake Student Involvement August 15, 2007

The Democratic Candidates August 19, 2007

Bill Richardson  June 22, 2007