What Happended in 2008?

This week we are to discuss what happened in the 2008 election, as it relates to our readings for the week:

There is no doubt that as the presidential elections come and go, every four years it seems that the candidates are becoming more and more "vulnerable." This time around, President Bush had nothing to worry about since it was his last term in office. Normally, if a candidate was up for re-election they would be scrambling to garner as much support as possible. It was pretty clear that America wanted "change" and "hope" this time around, so even if Bush was allowed to run a third term, there is no way he would have won it. As always, candidates area individuals focused on winning their own elections - so 2008 was no different. The Democrats clear had an advantage this time around because they ruled Congress, but the Republicans gave a tough fight too.

There are always going to be tensions between candidate-centeredness and party centric campaigns because the candidate is after one thing and one thing only - winning the election. They will care more about their "own" campaign that they party's campaign, and rightly so. Obama and Hillary clearly held different opinions on many topics such as health care and the war. Generally, the Democrats have one big idea about such topics, but each candidate formed their own opinion (a more specific opinion, if you will) about such topics. Although the Democrats support government-run health care, both Obama and Hillary had their own versions of what that would look like, which created tensions amongst the two.

It seems that because of new technologies in presidential campaigns, such was the Internet and 24-news channels, we have begun to see more of a candidate-centered campaign. Candidates can now post their own Facebook pages, create their own blogs, and become the focus of 24-new channels by not waring a lapel pin on their jacket. There is so much more focus on the individual than the party these days. I think the media plays a large role in this transition. They become "attached" to one candidate (clearly in 2008 that was Obama - they just LOVED the guy) and clearly focus all their time covering that particular person and bashing others (like McCain & Palin). With candidates using these new technologies more than ever, it's clear that the days of the party running for office are over.

Congressional candidates also receive individual attention, it's not as wide spread as the presidential candidates. Frankly, that's because not as many people care about Congressional members as they do the president. I'm not too familiar with how Congressional candidates run their campaigns, because I've only just begun to be interested in politics, so I'm not sure if they use Facebook or YouTube more frequently than presidential candidates do. - Does anyone follow these types of campaigns?

It was clear in the 2008 presidential election that candidates used the Internet more than ever - is this a good or bad thing? I think they are taking a gamble when using the Internet too much because hackers can get into their sites and "mess things up" pretty bad and if they aren't careful they can make themselves look like fools. Facebook and the likes are clearly tools to reach out to the younger crowd - but how often do these younger folks come out to vote? Is it worth the candidates effort to use Facebook? As a non-Facebook user myself, I'm not sure. I'm not sure how effective their Facebook pages may be.