fandomhigh | American Political Campaigning [Wednesday, October 25, 1st period]

Josh was staring into his coffee mug like it held the secrets to the universe.

"As you knew if you read your syllabus, today is our midterm." He smiled. "But don't worry--it's mostly a discussion. I'll give you a scenario based on one of the races currently going on and you tell me what you would do if you were the challenger, then what you would do as the incumbent based on what you've learned in this class so far."

"In the state of Pennsylvania, a two-term incumbent Republican Senator with a history of pro-life policies, leadership in the Republican political machine, and shooting his mouth off is down by 12 points with 13 days to go in the campaign." Josh passed out a series of papers ~~which opens with a omg annoying Santorum ad that I can't make shut up, sorry~~ on the Republican. "How do you try to overcome such an overwhelming deficit in numbers?"

Josh reached for more papers, this time on the challenger. "Then you are the pro-life Democrat from a political legacy family who's been serving as state treasurer for the last three terms. Other than inviting Senator Obama to campaign for you--which he's already done--what do you do to keep this kind of momentum running through election day?"

Josh sat down. "There are no wrong answers. I just want to see how much you've been paying attention."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...

Marty Blank

Isabel Evans

Eric Weiss

Bounce ideas off of Josh and each other. Easiest midterm ever :).

"If I was the republican? Start praying," Marty replied. "Probably in a school. Then I'd call my opponent a liberal and point out any silly flaws in his record, look for sound bites from him that we can take out of context and use to our advantage."

"As for the Democorat? If the popularity of Bush is at an all time low I'd start looking for pictures of the republican cadidate with the president. Then I'd start looking at his voting record and pick out anything that looks damaging. Veterans benefits, votes for pay raises and what not.

Josh nodded. "This late in the game is the time to really start smearing the mud," he said. "There's not enough time for the public backlash to reflect on your poll numbers, but it can certainly bring your opponent down." He bit his lip, thinking. "Assuming you can turn a commercial around this quickly, of course. Push polling might not be a bad idea, either. Or get one of those special interest groups to mysteriously run something."

"I think Rick should backpedal on his support of the war, after all the President is doing it now to some extent so he wouldn't be straying to far off the party line," Isabel pointed out.

"As for Casey, I think he should start pulling quotes out of Rick's book. Particularly the ones about how women shouldn't be working and a few other choice topics."

"Yeah, if I took a shot for every time that man has said we shouldn't cut and run I'd be dead," Josh said, smirking. "Pulling back now might leave him open for a not-illegitimate cry from the other side of changing his mind to score political points. How would you counter that?"

"I'll be honest, I think that the Democratic candidate is doing what he needs to do already. It looks like his campaign papers are focused on the now -- what he's been doing, how the campaign's going, where they were recently, where they're going to be. His opponent on the other hand is relying on political propaganda so ridiculously overwrought that it's hard not to just yawn through this crap."

"Mr. Republican candidate's only real hope right now is if Mr. Democrat comes out as some sort of cokehead drunk idiot... in which case, he should be running for President."

Josh snickered. "God forbid," he said. "That man doesn't need to get any further in politics than he has already. Let's take it from a different angle." He could hear Amy screaming in his head for choosing this particular race. "What do you think it means that both candidates are pro-life? Did that change the dymnamic significantly?"

He's around after class if you need him.

To show I am done, la!

American Political Campaigning [Wednesday, October 25, 1st period]

Sign in [October 25, APC]

Re: Sign in [October 25, APC]

Re: Sign in [October 25, APC]

Re: Sign in [October 25, APC]

Run the Pennsylvania Senate race!

Re: Run the Pennsylvania Senate race!

Re: Run the Pennsylvania Senate race!

Re: Run the Pennsylvania Senate race!

Re: Run the Pennsylvania Senate race!

Re: Run the Pennsylvania Senate race!

Re: Run the Pennsylvania Senate race!

Talk to Josh

OOC