Campaign and Elections: The Candidate (1972)

In response to his own work, the “Electoral Connection”, David Mayhew (1974) analyzes the motives for running for Congress. He highlights methods of advertising, which help make a candidate a household name. Also, credit-claiming is a vital weapon especially when achievements that directly affected the constituent society are being taken credit for. Finally, position taking on particular issues help propel certain candidates into the good graces of certain constituents. Many of these methods were portrayed in the film, The Candidate.
Democratic candidate McKay advertises his name with a catchy slogan, “McKay, the better way!” This name recognition helps spread his campaign by word of mouth and reflects his young and charismatic demeanor. Regarding position taking, McKay repeatedly states that studies regarding abortion should be looked into. To contrast, his Republican opponent Crocker claims credit for the Watershed idea to win votes. McKay constantly attempts to bring himself closer to his constituents by playing the part of the average citizen. These methods are still being used today, why does President Obama use personal anecdotes in his speeches or visit pizzerias in Florida? It is an attempt to present himself as a human being who has experiences the same troubles and celebrated the same triumphs as the working man. Whether honest or not, playing the card of the “average Joe” can often win votes in a political campaign.
The advent of technology was heavily emphasized in The Candidate. Debates were broadcasted, commercials were released, and interviews were held. This runs parallel with the work done by Antoinette Pole and Michael Xenos in their paper, “Like, Comments and Retweets: Facebooking and Tweeting on the 2012 Gubernational Campaign Trail” (2010). Though the importance of social networking does not directly affect the scenes from the film discussed, it presents just how important technology was for elections in the seventies and how it still is today. Technology can only facilitate the methods of advertising, credit claiming, and position taking in campaigns.