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... occurring. Rationally, each candidate is running because they each want the chance to run against President Bush for a chance at the White House. Each of the principles can explain the actions taken by the individual candidates and enlighten us on what may be to come for the primaries. If each candidate has the goal of winning the primaries, they are going to do everything within their powers and the rules to get there. Campaign spending is a big issue here.
The more money one candidate has the more places they can travel to and the more people they can talk with. In this respect money can help gain a lot of support from groups that might not otherwise be affected a given politician. It is up to the voter talking to whomever to get across a message that coincides with what a particular voter wants. This targets the voters personal and rational interests. This is really where the election is won and lost. No one can know exactly what it is that most people want from a candidate.
But this is the point of the campaign. This engages campaigns in collective action. If a certain candidate wants to win and to know what the majorities want, they need to gain support from the numbers. Collective Action can get people involved with jobs in a campaign and it can get polls across to see who is winning and to see what it actually is that people want. If a given politician cannot motivate people to follow him or her, he has no campaign to begin with. The issue for the politician is to see how the voters interests can be met and pushed to register and vote.
Kerry has set a good example by speaking at a university because this will motivate this group of voters to get involved. Thats what politics is all about in this country. The more people involved the more democratic the system actually is. Selective benefits also help parties and campaigns. If people can get something they want out of getting involved they will be more inclined to.
Convincing people to get out and vote for you is itself a form of collective action. As a politician one is trying to get people onboard with ones ideas. As the primaries are the first step towards the presidency, it is important to look at what institutions and rules lead the campaigns. The most important set of rules here are those concerning campaign finance. These are so important because with no regulations on funding for candidates, the election would be up for the highest bidder and that would show no democracy at all. Dean has a good idea for this by raising the public funding match.
Although he chose not to receive public financing this time it is only because he knows that this would lessen the amount of money he could gain otherwise. This is a key example of the Policy Principle in terms of policy in the Dean campaign. His personal interests met the institutions in place and he chose the best way around the circumstance. Why should he hinder his own campaign? His idea for campaign finance reform allows the public to match his funds on a five-to-one ratio (web). Its in his interest to gain office and that way he is able to make a change that will be more democratic.
The institutions that primarily deal with how the different campaigns work matter and they set up how the race will take place. Some of these rules are outlined in BCRA, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. These new regulations on soft-money, issue ads and hard-money have directly affected the campaigns of the democratic campaign. Because of the new restrictions on soft-money Dean and Kerry both declined public funding. They decided they could better fund their campaigns other ways. Clark, joining the race later than the other candidates took his interest into account because at the time it wouldnt make sense for him to decline any public money he could earn.
These regulations along with those on issue ads and disclosure have changed the way these men will campaign, and when each campaigns goal of winning meets that candidates interests, the interests of their voters and the institutions in place for voting, a primary winner will be declared. The Policy Principle is hard to apply to the primaries right now because they arent over yet, but this principle deals with the political outcome. We have no way of knowing this outcome until the election has taken place. But once there is a democratic candidate in place against Bush, we can look back at how the primaries were carried out and see why and how the winner came to the top. This is what is interesting about politics.
One cant really understand an event until the outcome of it has been decided. The procedures of the campaigns will explain why one candidate might have won over another. The policy is what happens when the political goals meet the institutions. In this case the campaigns goals will do all that they can within their rules to get as many voters to vote. From here it is up to the voters interests to vote for whomever while following the institutions of the voting procedures.
When these two processes meet and the votes are counted a democratic winner will emerge. As for the last principle, the History Principle, looking back at what has worked in the past primaries and presidential elections can be a good idea. Candidates looking back can gain better knowledge of how to plan their own campaigns and analysts can better understand how things happen and how they work out. In the last election Bush declined public funding and was still able to win, and he also wasnt the front runner for the republican primaries at first. A big factor for this election for the History Principle is BCRA. We know how campaign finance has played out and been used effectively in past elections, but this year BCRA is in place and changing how candidates finance their campaigns.
This will be a big election to look back on next election to see what ways the candidates get funding properly and effectively. Are Dean and Kerry making a smart decision by passing on public funding or can the public funds be enough to get the candidate through on only the issues and policies they stand up for. This along with the outcome will become more evident after the primaries are done and the road to the White House continues step by step. The primaries are the first target for campaigns and the stronger these democrats can make their campaigns here the farther they will be able to go against Bush's power house. These primaries are very important for the democrats who desperately want to sway the power in Washington. Between Dean, Kerry, Clark, Gephardt, and even Lieberman the people need to stick with their candidate.
The country is very closely split for the democrats and the republicans, which make the split for democratic candidates even more crucial. The outcome of the primaries is crucial because if the democrats cannot all stand behind their candidate they cannot defeat Bush. This is a very competitive race and very important. This is where stronger parties are important. The democratic party needs to be strong and come together from the primaries to win the presidency if they want to be in a position to change anything.
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Research essay sample on Campaign Finance Collective Action
