Campaigning 101

A fold-out flier in orange-and-brown fall foliage screamed “THE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY SAFARI” and was hyping one of those seminars for political handlers and candidates. The early October event, held in Bedford, New Hampshire, included such session titles as: “Breaking through the Pack,” “The 99 Little Things You Should Never Forget” and “Dealing with Bloggers: When to Hire, When to Schmooze, When to Advertise and When to Ignore.”
In the latter session, you gotta love their divide and conquer strategems regarding bloggers: “When is it time to put them on your payroll? When is it time to take them off your payroll?” Hmmm. Is there a session on how to buy a news story? I don’t see that in the slick brochure. Maybe it’s in the next seminar.
But there were sessions for political handlers that confirmed what the public thinks of the way political campaigns are run: all image, phony photo-opps and schmoozing for dollars, little substance. Under the all important “99 Little Things,” the seminar session advises candidates to think about such weighty issues as: “What kind of car should you arrive at events?” “Does growing a beard relegate your candidate to obscurity?” And they did not leave out women candidates (gosh nope!) for they pose this very important question: “For women, pants or a skirt?”
And there’s this ethical session entitled “Laws and Loopholes: 10 Overlooked Opportunities for Stretching Campaign Dollars.”
Sheesh.
I encourage anyone to get involved in the presidential campaign and perhaps, not allow the handlers to hijack our democracy. One way is to submit a question to youtube.com for their upcoming CNN/YouTube debate of the Republican Presidential candidates. The entries from the American public already in are way better than the “pants or skirt?” variety offered by these so-called experts.