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fandomhigh2006-01-26 12:45 pm
professor-lyman.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2006-01-26 12:45 pm
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Political Campaigning (Thursday, January 26, 4th period)
Josh put down the article he was reading about Hamas winning the election in Palestine when the campaign class came into the room.
He sighed. "Okay. First of all, please put your message grids and campaign strategies into my inbox. Today we talk about message. This is the campaign strategy essentially boiled down to about a paragraph. It's why you should be elected and the other guy shouldn't be. It's what you use as your guideline to see if you should talk about an issue--does it fit in with our message? If it doesn't and you address it, you've gone off-message and you're wasting time."
He cleared his throat. "Speaking of time, Elizabeth, how many days do we have until Election Day?" He waited for her response, then continued with his lecture. "Your message should be tailored to address the issues of the voters you need to win--the persuadable voters from the other sides, the undecideds in the middle of the road, and the soft supporters you have from your own party who need incentive to go out and vote."
He turned on a television he'd brought into the classroom. "This is an excerpt from John F. Kennedy's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1960. This is about as good an example of a message statement as has ever been written."
He pushed play. "...That is the question of the New Frontier. That is the choice that our nation must make--a choice that lies not merely between two men or two parties, but between the public interest and private comfort, between national greatness and national decline, between the fresh air of progress and the stale, dank atmosphere of normalcy, between dedication and mediocrity..." Josh turned off the video. "Compare and contrast. Really great language helps, too, but the specific wording of the message isn't necessarily something you share outside of the campaign." He looked around the room. "But the message itself must be something that the voters understand clearly, or they won't vote for you. The message, if you do it right, is what will get them to vote for you and not for the other guy."
He passed out a handout. "Okay, today's work is easy. Start it in class, finish it up for next week. Fill in the following sentences with words you think best describe your candidate and your opponent. Poof, instant message. Each of you work on one individually, then your groups will discuss which one you think is most effective next week." He looked at the group. "And with Jessica leaving school, Donna has graciously volunteered to shift back and forth between the Morrison and Tester groups to make sure that no one is completely overwhelmed." Josh smiled at Angel. "Thanks."
He sat back down at his desk and waited for group discussions to begin. He's pretty distracted by the news out of Palestine, and probably won't notice if groups aren't really discussing politics today.
He sighed. "Okay. First of all, please put your message grids and campaign strategies into my inbox. Today we talk about message. This is the campaign strategy essentially boiled down to about a paragraph. It's why you should be elected and the other guy shouldn't be. It's what you use as your guideline to see if you should talk about an issue--does it fit in with our message? If it doesn't and you address it, you've gone off-message and you're wasting time."
He cleared his throat. "Speaking of time, Elizabeth, how many days do we have until Election Day?" He waited for her response, then continued with his lecture. "Your message should be tailored to address the issues of the voters you need to win--the persuadable voters from the other sides, the undecideds in the middle of the road, and the soft supporters you have from your own party who need incentive to go out and vote."
He turned on a television he'd brought into the classroom. "This is an excerpt from John F. Kennedy's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1960. This is about as good an example of a message statement as has ever been written."
He pushed play. "...That is the question of the New Frontier. That is the choice that our nation must make--a choice that lies not merely between two men or two parties, but between the public interest and private comfort, between national greatness and national decline, between the fresh air of progress and the stale, dank atmosphere of normalcy, between dedication and mediocrity..." Josh turned off the video. "Compare and contrast. Really great language helps, too, but the specific wording of the message isn't necessarily something you share outside of the campaign." He looked around the room. "But the message itself must be something that the voters understand clearly, or they won't vote for you. The message, if you do it right, is what will get them to vote for you and not for the other guy."
He passed out a handout. "Okay, today's work is easy. Start it in class, finish it up for next week. Fill in the following sentences with words you think best describe your candidate and your opponent. Poof, instant message. Each of you work on one individually, then your groups will discuss which one you think is most effective next week." He looked at the group. "And with Jessica leaving school, Donna has graciously volunteered to shift back and forth between the Morrison and Tester groups to make sure that no one is completely overwhelmed." Josh smiled at Angel. "Thanks."
He sat back down at his desk and waited for group discussions to begin. He's pretty distracted by the news out of Palestine, and probably won't notice if groups aren't really discussing politics today.
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