Strategies Behind the Candidate
On the heels of CNN’s Wednesday’s Republican
Presidential Primary Debate many journalists are focused around the winners and
losers, who is electable and fell on their face, and how what candidates said
matches up with their history. However, every candidate worth their weight in
salt takes into account these narratives in preparing for a debate. They recognize
that, just as every comedian on a stage does, any joke, pun, or one-liner can
fall flat on its face no matter how many times it has been tested. This leads many
candidates to focus on the image they project in what they’re saying by their
target group rather than trying to be deemed a ‘winner’ or ‘loser’ by a pundit.
Being consistent is oftentimes is one of the tougher things for a candidate in
projecting who they are.
Kasich’s Image
When John Kasich interjected in the second
question of the debate to call for ‘a focusing on real issues’ it certainly was
not a rash decision. Throughout the rest of the night he harped on his credentials
having served as a Representative of Ohio in D.C. for 18 years and as the sitting
Governor of Ohio. These two narratives may appear mutually exclusive in the
moment of a heated debate are in fact far from different. Kasich went into
Wednesday’s debate realizing that not many people had a formed opinion on him yet
and that on face value his credentials were the most impressive of all of the
candidates on the stage. That debate meant he had the perfect opportunity to
create some soundbites and will be tools for evaluators of his campaign as to
how Kasich for America will pivot in the future.
Other threats and weaknesses about Governor
Kasich’s campaign will appear in the coming months and he’ll have to combat
them just as he is now with a low recognition score amongst likely voters. When
it goes down to the issues the decades of public office experience will be the
foundation of that strategy. As the architect of the last federal balanced
budget he’ll be able to stand pretty confidently when it comes to issues of the
deficit and over-spending by the federal government. Of the many foreign policy
questions asked Wednesday he’ll be able to go in with real knowledge compared
to the other Governors having served 18 years on the Armed Services Committee.
Finally many candidates talk about how broken the system may appear and what
Governor Kasich may stand out most from everyone else is being able to say that
he reached across aisles to balance the budget with one of the most popular
Democrat Presidents of all time in Bill Clinton while still having strong
Republican roots in working with Ronald Reagan. The biggest might just be the
very public position he held as a Fox News show Host he held for 6 years before
deciding to run for Governor of Ohio.
Kasich 4 America
John Kasich the candidate as an image in the mind’s
eye will likely rely on how strong his campaign staff is though. Unfortunately
he’s polling just in the top ten nationally without any surges like those
Donald Trump, Ben Carson, or Carly Fiorina have experienced in the last few
months. Journalists don’t seem to be too enthused with covering the mild
mannered man from the Rust-Belt as they are of these outsider candidates coming
from seemingly nowhere. Most notably about Kasich for America is that he is
just getting started when it comes to endorsements from party officials. On the
bright side for the Governor no one in the Republican Party seems comfortable
endorsing anyone really. All of these issues appear for any campaign in its
infancy and will be determined as weaknesses, strengths, opportunities, or
threats in how they are spun in the coming months. If Governor Kasich is able to
emphasize his sizable gains in New Hampshire with having spent only a limited
amount of money then it could be considered just the beginning. However if there
becomes a growing narrative around a measly war chest as a point of not being a
viable candidate or a hindrance to building a national infrastructure campaigns
need then just the opposite might be true. In the end the narrative around
Governor Kasich’s campaign is just being formed and this next month could
establish him as the party favorite or be his death knell.
I learned a lot from this blog! I was surprised to hear all about his past experience and was wondering if you think he is using it to his full advantage and what do you think he should be doing to make his numbers better since he does have all this experience. I am glad I learned all of this but wish that he would talk more about it.
ReplyDeleteKasich's whole message during this campaign has been one for hope that he hopes people will believe around his past experiences. Anytime he has an interview, advertisement, or debate you won't leave without hearing 3 things - 18 years on armed services committee, 8 billion dollar deficit turned 2 billion surplus in Ohio, and balancing the federal budget. The problem I see with the campaign thus far is that they seem to be playing a dangerous waiting game. The danger in it is that candidates such as Rubio are starting to see a surge and he's not benefiting from declines from other candidates such as Walker, Paul, or Trump. Kasich's playing the long game, the only question is if his lack of aggressiveness is a good thing for his current campaign.
DeleteI just wanted to start off by saying that I'm impressed by your writing style and that it's clear you've done your research! The only question I really have for you is about your "Image" section. So you discussed how he was "harping" about his past experience, which to me sounds like a redundant non effective strategy. Would you agree with that or do you think his campaign continuing to use this strategy is going to still be productive?
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you that having covered Kasich for a few weeks now his message is very redundant. I think honestly that's why we haven't seen much mainstream attention compared to other candidates. Kasich's clearly playing the patient game and is hoping that waiting will weed out weaker candidates and prevent any negative press from killing him too early. However if he keeps doing this strategy too much longer - check back around November - I don't think he'll find much success. People have compared him to candidates such as John Huntsman and his biggest obstacle is to prove that he isn't a good candidate with a strong record but no support. Stay tuned and keep checking The Trend.
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