BLOG 3: How Political Campaigns Have Changed

Since the 1960s and Nixon’s campaigns, political campaigns have changed in many ways yet in many ways have stayed the same.

With Nixon’s campaign in 1960 against JFK and later in 1968 public image became an essential part of political campaigning. If television had been present when President Taft ran in 1908 he would not have been elected President. Public image is everything in election these days. Like Nixon’s debate against JFK, television was and is vital. Again, this was shown in the 2004 election of Bush against Kerry. While Bush won the election against Kerry the debate damaged Bush’s political reputation and popularity which showed in the tight race.

However, things have changed since Nixon. The introduction of the internet, blogging, and fundraising through the internet has been a very important part of political campaigns. The website library, thinkquest shows how Obama’s use of internet helped his campaign

Barack Obama’s site opens with an appeal for funds; he has raised more money than any other candidate to date, mostly because of his success in soliciting through his website.

 This has opened a direct line of e-fundraising. He found a way to get a large amount of donations from many different donaters. He made it so that the candidates will have to continue to connect to the public because now they will have to rely on a lot of small donations to get money for their campaigns. The New York Times has an article which compares Obama to Kennedy and shows the connection between the two.

One of the many ways that the election of Barack Obama as president has echoed that of John F. Kennedy is his use of a new medium that will forever change politics. For Mr. Kennedy, it was television. For Mr. Obama, it is the Internet.

Kennedy and Nixon made the media a direct and influential part of the political campaigning. Media such as television and radio ads have continued to be a major part of the political campaigns. However, the new creation of internet and internet ads have created a new dimension within internet campaigning.