Charles Skaugstad

12-06-07

Introduction

It’s hard to believe that we are still months away from the first votes cast in the 2008 Presidential race. Both Republican and Democratic candidates are criss-crossing the United States bringing messages of change, leadership etc. to all Americans. For this paper, I have chosen to focus on three Republican candidates: Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson.

Most people have vivid memories of what they were doing six years ago when our country was attacked on September 11, 2001. At the time New York City was lead by Mayor Rudolph “Rudy” Giuliani. Giuliani’s image was broadcast across all television screens and into memory, when he walked the streets to the burning World Trade Center on 9/11. Giuliani is a native New Yorker who became Mayor of New York City in 1993, after several years in the Department of Justice and as a United States Attorney. As the Mayor of NYC for two terms, Giuliani spearheaded efforts to fight crime, restore fiscal responsibility and establish a welfare-to-work initiative. Giuliani is married to Judith Nathan Giuliani and has two children from a previous marriage.

Another leader and Presidential hopeful is former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Romney is a highly accomplished businessman originally from Michigan, who enjoyed a successful career in business operations management before taking over the reigns at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. Romney took over a situation and organization mired in controversy and in a dire financial situation. After the Olympics, Romney ran and was elected in 2002 as the Governor of Massachusetts, where he focused on eliminating government waste, economic reform and education issues. Romney is married to Ann Romney and they have five sons.

Following the theme of former lawmakers, Senator Fred Thompson is the third and final 2008 Republican Presidential candidate in my analysis. Raised in Tennessee, Thompson was a United States Senator from 1994 to 2002. While in the Senate, Thompson focused on national security, lowering taxes and fiscal reform. Prior to that, Thompson was a United States Attorney and a successful television and film actor. Thompson is married to Jeri Thompson and they have two young children. Thompson also has two sons and a deceased daughter from a previous marriage.

Campaign Effort

All three of the candidates I have chosen to analyze have made names for themselves in various ways throughout the course of the campaign. Rudy Giuliani has the instant political power of name recognition, from his days as Mayor of New York City during the September 11^th attacks to his successful book, Leadership that has sold over one million copies. It is hard for Americans to not associate Giuliani with those events and his campaign carefully and deliberately chooses opportune times to remind people of the mayor’s leadership during that painful time in American history. Giuliani has taken a non-traditional approach to his campaign, often focusing on the “bigger picture” and referring to his electability in the general election against foes like Hillary Clinton, instead of focusing on his opponents in the Republican primary. Giuliani’s views are often viewed as socially moderate and that has been the biggest opportunity for more socially Conservative candidates like Romney and Thompson, to take aim. Giuliani has spent a large amount of time in battleground states like Iowa and New Hampshire, but has also ventured into new territory for Republicans, like California. Giuliani began the fundraising slightly ahead of his opponents in timing, and has now raised over $44 million for his campaign. Giuliani’s “bread and butter” is his large, high dollar fundraising events where he continually brings the message that he is the only candidate that can beat Hillary Clinton in the general election.

Governor Romney has taken a far different campaign approach than Mayor Giuliani, focusing much of his time and attention in the first caucus/primary states, Iowa and New Hampshire. Romney has used many grassroots tactics, including phone banking and has set up “Rally for Romney” events in people’s homes across the country. Romney is also spending a significant amount of money is battleground states on advertisements, because he does not have the same name recognition that has propelled Mayor Giuliani and even Senator Thompson. Romney has raised over $60 million dollars and much of his fundraising can be attributed to the support in the LDS community, as Governor Romney is Mormon.

Senator Fred Thompson got into the race long after most all had declared their candidacy and has been playing a bit of “catch up” in terms of fundraising, campaign stops and tours. Thompson has a decidedly different campaign strategy, with much of his focus on solid “red states” and early Southern primary states like South Carolina and Florida. Thompson’s fundraising is far behind Giuliani and Romney with current estimates near $10 million and his fundraising has also been mainly “southern” focused, with big ticket events in Nashville and Miami leading the way for donations.

All three candidates have focused on the “core” conservative values (in varying degrees) in their campaign stump speeches and fundraising events.

Political Advertisements

In the last 50 years, political advertisements have become a major part of campaign strategy and finances. From the “I like Ike” ads for Eisenhower in the 1950s to the “Daisy Girl” ad produced for the Johnson campaign, advertisements play an important role in shaping public opinion.

All three candidates that I have chosen to analyze have released various advertisements over the past few months. Rudy Giuliani’s advertisement “Tested” focuses on his days as New York City mayor and eludes to his patriotism during the 9/11 attacks. This advertisement is under the positive strategy of advertising, because it highlights Giuliani’s accomplishments as mayor and does not reference any other candidate or party. The second Giuliani advertisement I analyzed was the recently released “Leadership” that touts Giuliani’s “conservative” values and fiscal discipline and mentions that he is the best candidate because he has the most leadership experience. This advertisement is a comparative, because it aims to create a difference between the candidate and his or her opponents.

Mitt Romney is far ahead of his competitors with the amount of advertisements that he is running and the amount of money spent on critical timing and ad placement. Romney’s “Experience Matters” is a comparative ad directed at showing the difference between him and Democratic frontrunner, Hillary Clinton. Romney uses references to leadership and experience as a leader in the comparison. The second advertisement I analyzed is titled “Our Home” and is a positive advertisement centered on Romney’s family values, role as father and husband and the advertisement is done with Romney’s wife, Ann Romney speaking and talking about her husband.

Fred Thompson’s advertisements focus almost exclusively on his “conservative” principles and his past record. In “No Amnesty” Thompson pledges to secure the borders and protect national security and in “Consistent Conservative”, he touts his small town upbringing, strong faith and conservative values. Both of Thompson’s ads are positive in nature and the focus is solely on him.

All of the advertisements I analyzed are traditional in design and carry similar messages of values, leadership, etc. Giuliani and Romney are the only Republican candidates to “go negative” so far, but I would bet that others will employ that strategy very soon.

Websites

Rudy Giuliani’s website: www.joinrudy2008.com is an interactive, presidential-looking site with various uses of technology. Advertisements, blogs and donation information take center stage, while issue stances and a small biography are among drop down menu items.

In striking similarity, Mitt Romney’s website: www.mittromney.com also uses interactive features and a presidential-looking design to draw potential voters into donating, watching ads and signing up for house parties etc. Romney has a lengthy biography as well as a page dedicated to information about his wife.

Fred Thompson’s website:  www.fred08.com is different from the previous two because it lacks the same amount of technology focused activities and uses large bulleted “action items” as its main page focus. It also includes a lengthy personal and professional biography.

All three candidates’ websites feature sections on how they stand on the issues. Fred Thompson is unabashedly a champion in pro-life issues and he provides a “family values” section comparing his anti-abortion voting record with the other candidates. Mitt Romney’s issue section does not mention a ban on abortions, but points to the idea of “Promoting a Culture of Life” by overturning Roe v. Wade and returning power to the states. Giuliani believes in restrictions on abortions and his web section mentions his commitment to adoptions etc.

All three candidates have similar views on gay marriage, believing that marriage is between a man and a woman. Giuliani supports domestic partnerships and Romney believes in a constitutional amendment. The three candidates do not support mandatory troop withdrawal from Iraq and each candidate dedicates significant attention to military spending and the war on terror in their policy and issue sections.

With the Iowa caucuses less than a month away, we are bound to see many changes in advertisements and web content with candidate’s hot on the campaign trail. With the surge of former “bottom feeder” Mike Huckabee so close to the first votes, it will be an interesting and exciting race for the Republicans and the Democrats. I look forward to participating in the Iowa Caucuses when I am home for winter break.