2008 Elections-Candidates or Parties?

The candidates in the 2008 presidential elections did not seem like agents of their parties. It proved difficult for the Republicans to even nominate a candidate. Every major possibility (McCain, Huckabee, and Romney) each had their own group within the party that disapproved of their candidacy. So no matter who was nominated, there would be some group not satisfied. My point here is that it seems difficult for a candidate to be an agent of the party when the entire party doesn’t even support his/her candidacy. And on the Democratic side, I turn to the issue of fundraising, especially in Obama’s case. He was very successful at raising money, in large part because of smaller donations from many individuals. Here it seems he did a lot of his own work, not the party.

Advances in technology and communication have only shifted the balance between candidate and party-centered campaigns. In this past election, things seemed to be quite candidate-centered. Thanks to the internet, each candidate has the ability to create a website where voters can visit and learn more about the campaign. These websites are candidate-centered with only some reference to the parties. (For example, on Obama’s home page, there is a link to the DNC web page, but otherwise, little mentioning of the party is done on the main page.) Everything on the website has his name all over it, Obama this and Obama that… the “Obama Store” etc.

The Obama website seems to be following the advice of the Teachout article. She mentions how a website, all in one central place, can list contact information and give directions for citizens to local events. On Obama’s home page, there is a map of the United States in the top right corner with the heading, “Get Involved Now, Find an Event Near You.” This is clearly what Teachout is talking about in her article. Getting people out to local events is a key part of a candidate’s web-site. Teachout also mentions blogs and how Howard Dean used his “Blog for America” as a tool for reaching his supporters. This blog contained everything from news stories to struggles in campaigning for the presidency. Obama also keeps a blog on his website to inform his supporters of recent developments in the Obama administration. (I’m certain while campaigning though it was all about the campaign rather than the administration.)