As the primaries loom ahead in Iowa for the presidential candidates, Election Day this year has important significance for congressional, state and municipal seats vying for power and influence in the Election Day to come next year November 6th 2012 when the election for the presidency will take place.
Each party frets back and forth through their campaign season, one could look at Election Day in 2011 as an important marker for each candidate. The republican camp is down to 4 major candidates Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, Herman Cain and Rick Perry even if the others don’t know it yet. Over on the democrats’ side Barak Obama is taking everything in stride as he is attacked from all sides including his own to make his bid for re-election.
I have been known to relish in the show of election campaigns, watching how each candidate tries to gain the upper hand with each crucial point that can determine their success or failure in the polls.
I could say that the television commercials are the best part of elections but it would be hardly so. Although I am a huge fan of poetry, and each 30 – 45 second commercial is like modern poetry trying to fit their entire message into that time frame while allowing time to knock down their opponents a few pegs is at best entertaining.
The real beauty is watching the campaign speeches no matter where or when they are giving the speech. This is where the big bucks are made; speech writing. A candidate can be speaking in a farm town and the speech writers are able to take advantage of the single opportunity to feed the crowd a few cheap shots and great one-liners to get achieve a simple goal, press coverage. As important as it is to actually speak to their constituents, in one single speech you can get a strong and powerful message to the entire country.
The true beauty lies in the speculation, as the speeches continue in the media. One speech can be picked apart and analyzed to the nth degree by all the journalists and television hosts who can make or break the election campaign. One wrong word or gesture can be taken in the direction that is totally out of context and used to benefit or detriment of the candidate.
One part that is always intriguing is the history lesson that comes with each election. No matter how many statistics are brought about if and how a candidate can win, the media and popular opinion will look at what happened in the past. Looking back at some of the best election rumbles like Bush vs. Clinton or Nixon vs. Kennedy or even Eisenhower vs. Stevenson there is so much to learn about the process. A candidate can look so far ahead in the polls but when is comes down to the election results people are baffled about the reverse outcome.
Learning the history of campaigns and elections results are a crucial part of any candidate’s bid for the highest seat in office. At the end of the day one can only speculate so much before the results come in and all is forgotten but the victor.
