Presidential politics: Staging the Perfect Announcement

[DeepModem Mom]

WP political blog, "The Fix," by Chris Cillizza
Staging the Perfect Announcement

.... In 2003, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards (D) actually announced that he was planning to run for president on (Jon) Stewart's show, following that up the next day with a more formal announcement in Robbins, N.C.

For his 2008 run for president, Edwards is planning to announce in the Lower 9th Ward, the part of New Orleans that was hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. That announcement will send a vastly different signal than the hip and edgy kick-off on Stewart's show in 2004. Back then Edwards was the new thing in national politics; now he must show he is serious enough for the job at hand.

Announcements are critical when it comes to sending a message to voters about the kind of campaign a candidate plans to run. They draw widespread new coverage and often provide voters with their first glimpse of a candidate.

So, I was more than a little intrigued when Fix friends Chuck Todd (of The Hotline) and Steve Rabinowitz (of Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications) invited me to attend a "Political Communication" class they teach at Johns Hopkins University's satellite branch in D.C. In the class I attended, the students presented their ideas for 2008 presidential announcements, as well as a broader messaging plans for likely candidates.

The ideas ran the gamut from strange to scintillating. Here's a sampling of the best (and oddest):

* Darcy Sawatzki proposed that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) announce her candidacy on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" on Feb. 3, 2007. ("Live from New York, I'm running for president!") Why SNL? Sawatzki said it would give Clinton a national audience, turn the preconceived notion that she's a too-serious political wonk on its head, show that her political career is still rooted in New York, and also serve as a potent lead-in for the Sunday talk shows the following day. Following the SNL announcement, Sawatzki proposed that Clinton hit the campaign trail for a week -- giving a series of policy speeches and laying out a vision for the country....

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2006/12/staging_the_perfect_announceme.html#more