Political Office Campaign Marketing

In the 2016 election cycle, over 1.4 billion dollars was given to presidential candidates (Federal Election Commission 2016a). This is more than any other presidential election cycle in history (Price 2016). Another billion dollars was given to U.S. House of Representatives candidates, and about 600 million dollars was given to U.S. Senate candidates (Federal Election Commission 2016b). The majority of this money went to funding the candidates’ campaigns. This money controlled whose ads voter’s saw on television and which candidates were able to afford to travel the country campaigning for votes. In many cases, the candidate with the most money available won their election. Most campaigns are financed in large part by a small number

The current network of campaign finance is a complicated web involving individual contributors, soft money and hard money, and political action committee influence. In the aftermath of the crooked Watergate scandal, anxiety over campaign finance led to the passage of two major reform bills—the Revenue Act of 1971 and the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974—that have set the guidelines and regulations for campaign finance. Although many other laws and acts have been passed in effort to regulate campaign finance, these two acts set the main standards for campaign finance regulation. The main ideas of the acts stipulate that candidates for the two houses of Congress receive no public funding, candidates in the presidential primaries receive matching dollars, and candidates

The next presidential election will be one like no one has ever seen before in terms of campaign funding and expenses. Even now, the GOP Presidential Primary races are already showing signs of how money will not be an object for their presidential candidate. The seemingly limitless budget exists for these candidates thanks to the so-called Super PACs (Political Action Committees). These Super PACs are allowed to come up with independent financing for the presidential campaign, sans any budgetary ceilings. The inner workings of such a committee has left a bad taste in the mouths of the voters even though very little is known about the actual history and reasons for the existence of the Super PACS. This paper will delve into the committee's

     Rather than government providing millions of dollars for the campaign and putting harsh restricts on individual donations, I believe that the limits should not be put on the American people but on the candidates themselves. Spending on the campaign has gotten out of control within the last decade. Millions of taxpayer dollars are being spend on mobile campaigns, advertisements, and media exposure. This funding could easily go towards other areas of society, benefiting the very people that the candidates wish to govern. Rather than directing negative attention, I believe that candidates should reach out to the public to gain support. Campaigning for presidency should not be about winning or who raises the most money. Presidency should be about protecting and caring for the American people. The conduct of campaigns should be monitored in order to limit spending and to prevent negative advertising towards opposite candidates.

In the Presidential race of 2008, it is estimated that the combined spending of outside groups, political parties, and candidates totaled to over five billion dollars (Beneson and Tarr 2012). American politics has created a culture of “political elites” that requires every candidate to raise millions of dollars. Although organizations like the FEC tracks these large sums of money, the amount of money a person must spend publicizing and promoting themselves has become uncontrollable. Jeb Bush’s Super PAC has already raised over 103 million dollars and filmed countless hours of interviews of the Candidate, skirting regulations within McCain-Feingold that prevent outside sources from directly creating scripts and advertisements with the Bush campaign (Miller and Elliot 2015). Although Bush and his supporters may have the constitutional right to raise millions of dollars, and publish deceptive advertisements, their actions still promote a sentiment of power that should not be allotted to one person. Regardless of the strides that have been made to reduce corruption within campaign finance reform, and support citizen’s most basic freedoms to support whichever candidate they wish, the entire campaign process has become too politically elite. The necessity for million dollar campaigns and extensive financial backing prevents

Political campaigning is now the full-fledged live version of chess, with pawns, queens and kings, but is all this parading and strategizing actually important? What is even the purpose behind political campaigns; is it to inform the public about a candidate or through clever means to win an election at all costs? The truth of the matter is that campaigns do actually serve an important purpose in the political world of America. Its purpose is to help inform voters about candidates and to improve the number of voters at the polling place. In order for these goals to be achieved there needs to be a clear platform upon which the campaign is built.

"Individuals and PACs in finance, insurance, and real estate have contributed over $2 billion to federal campaigns since 1990. Wall Street contributions increased from $60 million in 1990 to $311 million in 2005" (Wall online). "Electoral competition is achieved when qualified candidates have access to sufficient spending to become known to the voters" (Does online). Therefore the candidate must resort to any means necessary to have sufficient funds to run a successful campaign. Stricter campaign financing guidelines are needed to limit the amount of donations to candidates because interest money is a dominant factor in campaigns. It steers the ideological views of the candidate toward the Political Action Committee that donates the most

The road to the presidency starts when a candidate announces plan to run for office. This launches the candidate’s campaign. Candidates campaign to win support from delegates. The first stage of a presidential campaign is the nomination campaign. At this time the candidates from the same party compete, for the nomination of their party. The candidate works to secure support of their nomination from representatives at the national party convention and sway potential voters. The next step to presidency is the Caucuses and primary elections.

Candidates such as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are surrounded by money. This will allow for easy unlimited funding from the citizens who agree with their views and will benefit from them winning. Presidents would obviously reward these organizations once elected in one way or another. This will allow wealthy individuals to make a much more significant impact on elections. While old PACs had a cap on how much could be donated by individuals, while prohibiting organizations and companies from donating, these new “isolates” super PACs can receive unlimited donations. A major company may decide to spend a few million dollars to support a specific candidate if it could return profit on the investment from taxation policies the winning candidate puts in place. This puts a large importance on money in the election, and less on debates and views. This is shown in the current election, with two of the candidates being some of the biggest financial influencers in the United States. Donald Trump is one of the faces of the business world and has huge influences in the business world. Hillary Clinton was a former first lady and has many large backings. This election has two of the biggest iconic faces in this country, most likely due to this new

The purpose of campaigns is to reach voters and inform them about their politician’s platform. This is the basic definition of campaigns. Sometimes this gets lost in translation, meaning that many campaigns veer off from this definition. In today’s generation, many campaigns are too involved with making headlines by using unrelated statements or criticizing other campaigns, also known

It’s daunting to realize how much a campaign costs. Just a few weeks ago, one of the most expensive Congressional elections in our country’s history, with the candidates spending more than $55 million. Although races for the House of Delegates are less costly than their national counterparts, House candidates often spend hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“Twenty-first-century election campaigns are structure to garner the most favorable media exposure reaching the largest number of prospective supporters, with the greatest degree of candidate control over the message”. (Dunaway & Graber 2009. Pg. 315) Media in regards to political advertising is much more narrower. Some candidates are primarily interested in voters who preference the outcome of the race instead of the process of the election. A great example is President Obama in 2008, had little interest in any media markets in California because he expected to win by a comfortable

Since 1952, television has played a major role in presidential elections. Television allows candidates to reach a broad number of people, and personalities, to help push along their campaigns. Campaigns help the candidates just as much as the voters. The candidates get to be identified, and known to the voters, and the voters get to hear and see how a specific candidate identifies with their needs and wants. The best way to get this information out there is through the most used form of media, television.

In campaigning, media coverage plays a large role for candidates. They use the media to make their name heard and image seen. “Nearly everything a candidate does is geared toward the media, especially television” (Stuckey, 1999, p. 99) Candidates make appearances on talk shows,

Lawn signs, television advertisements, billboards, and political rallies are some of the key components of a successful political campaign. A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the democratic public that is voting for its elected officials. These seemingly trifling parts of a campaign cost money. Money equals power, is the political mantra in today’s society. Campaigning can cost millions of dollars, and it is logical to believe that only those with the means have the ability to participate in the race for leadership. In a democratic society such as ours, every person has the right to vote and stand up for what they believe is right. Every person, from Donald Trump to the regular middle class citizen,