Formal announcements absent from US campaign trail

By Staff
|
Google Oneindia News

NEW YORK, Feb 25 (Reuters) Whatever happened to good old-fashioned political announcements with balloons, adoring crowds and promises to outwork the other candidates to become the next president of the United States? Those traditional festivities are largely a thing of the past, victim of a super-charged media, the grip of campaign fund-raising and a crowded field of candidates unprecedented in modern times.

These days, presidential contenders file campaign documents, form exploratory committees, decline matching public funds, discuss plans on online blogs or chat on talk shows --instead of just throwing their hats into the ring.

''What we see happening increasingly is really a series of soft launches as opposed to one hard launch,'' said Lisa Linden, head of Linden Alschuler&Kaplan, a public relations firm.

''It's a way to test the water. It's a way to be a candidate without being an officially declared candidate, which then brings increased political scrutiny by the press,'' she said.

In recent weeks, Republican former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani teased the public with remarks that he would ''like to be president'' and was ''committed'' to running before telling CNN's Larry King: ''I'm running.'' There's been no formal announcement yet.

Republican Senator John McCain has been on the campaign trail since revealing plans in November to form an exploratory committee, a key step in the campaign fund-raising process. Again, no formal announcement yet.

Among Democrats, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton told her supporters ''I'm in'' early one Saturday morning last month on her Web site, while New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson made his announcement on a Sunday morning television talk show.

TRADITIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT Weeks after declaring his intentions on his Web site, Senator Barack Obama made a more traditional announcement in Springfield, Illinois, and former US Senator John Edwards posted his plans on the Web before his staged announcement in New Orleans. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, made a formal announcement in a Detroit suburb.

Being a little coy about intentions creates critical speculation and buzz, said strategist Hank Sheinkopf.

''It allows the candidate to dominate the news because whatever they do is news,'' he said. ''The news then is how much money you've got, what consultants you've hired.

Once a candidate makes it official, ''you lose that. You become part of the mix with everyone else,'' he said.

Andrew Polsky, a presidential historian at Hunter College, said: ''It's very, very difficult in this day and age to get people to pay attention.'' ''There's so many other things people are engaged by besides politics, especially this far in advance of the election,'' he added.

A single, gala announcement might pack a more powerful punch but not without risk.

''In order for it to really resonate and deliver that punch, everything has to line up. The candidate has to be in fighting trim that day. The message has to be honed, the visuals have to be compelling and they have to pull it off,'' Linden said.

''You don't remember the soft launch the same way, but it can be a very direct way to move a message out and it doesn't come with the peril.'' Some say those old-fashioned campaign kickoffs were overrated.

''Undoubtedly, there are some devotees of campaigning who miss the old ways of doing it but, unless you were around for for Abraham Lincoln and had kerosene torches and a oilskin cape, I don't think there's been much drama in these events for a very long time,'' said Stephen Hess, professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University.

REUTERS SP BST1810

For Daily Alerts
Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
X