So he went on his way, to the National Primaries.
PARTY NOMINATION
Presidential primaries and caucuses are the beginnng steps of electing the President of the United States. The main difference between the two is that primary elections are run by state and local governments, while caucuses are privately run by political parties.
The candidates of 1992 were considered as one of the weakest line ups the democratic party had seen in a while, due to president George H. W. Bush's high approval ratings. Front runners such as Bill Bradley, Jesse Jackson, Dick Gephardt, Al Gore, and Jay Rockefeller all bowed out of the race early. With less competition, Bill Clinton was the candidate on the rise. Clinton started out with winning an informal poll declaring his popularity in Florida. As you may know, the Iowa Caucus is usually the launching pad for successful candidates, but Clintons main competitor was a Senator from Iowa. So he turned his head toward New Hampshire. In January of 1992 he was the front runner, but two damaging stories almost stopped him dead in his tracks. He was accused of having an affair with a night club singer. He blatantly denied this claim. What caused him an even greater downfall was the notion that he had dodged the draft in order to avoid military service during the Vietnam War. With both these scandals in the public, he lost over 20 points in less than a week. Fortunately he was able to overcome and finished second behind Senator Tsongas. After which he was accused of another scandal. They called him out for possibly having smoked pot in College. That didn't stop him from taking the lead in the primary season. He won Georgia. Clinton then won most of the rest of the primaries facing eliminated of diminished competition. clinton's advisors felt he won the nomination when Jerry Brown upset Tsongas in the MAryland primary. Brown ended up being his main competitor when he upset Clinton in the Connecticut primary. All in all though, his journey through the primaries was relatively easy after the March 3, 1992 win in Georgia. Eventually leading him to the next step in becoming the next president of the United States.
One of Clintons most beneficial strategies was his lock down on the southern states. Democrats struggled to win the republican dominated south throughout the years. Clinton being from Arkansas and choosing Tennessee native Al Gore as his running mate proved to be a dynamite road block for the republican campaign. Also, the Clinton campaign hit a stroke of luck as George H. W. Bush's rates fell below 50 percent.
Clintons charisma combined with an impressive campaign staff helped him to achieve victory.
After winning much popularity within the National primaries, and experiencing a sweeping victory across the nation, the Boy Governor moved on to the National Democratic Convention.
CONVENTION
Party Conventions were created in order to choose a party nominee for president, and to put more power into the peoples hands through the use of delegates. However, the primaries now serve this purpose and conventions exist as more of a formality/party pep rally, and gives them a chance to discuss the party platform. It has become a sort of advertisement for the party.
Within the Democratic Convention, a number of delegates (chosen according to population proportions) attend the convention in support of a candidate, and a candidate is chosen via the proportional system. Speeches are made and scheduled for prime time television slots, and debate within the party over the platform exists, though it tends to be covered up.In 1992, the party platform (which is created to appeal to the general public in order to win their votes for the candidate) focused on the economy. The support of local business and the idea of reinvesting in domestic affairs were heavily emphasized, as well as eliminating nonproductive programs, controlling health care costs, making the rich pay fair taxes, and rebuilding cities. Clinton was also interested in welfare reform, handgun control, and pro-choice policy.
His Vice Presidential Candidate, Al Gore, was announced on July 9, 1992, just before the National Convention. He was a fellow southerner, but balanced out Clinton in that he had strong family and environmental values. The two pushed Centrism and generational change within their campaign.
Bill Clinton was nearly tied with Ross Perot, the independent candidate, who dropped out just before the convention was resolved. Clinton won over many of his voters, giving him yet another advantage over Bush’s falling approval ratings.
MONEY
Without money a presidential campaign would never prosper. During the election of 1992 the Democratic Party spent 23,445,313 dollars, this was only a third compared to the Republican Party, which spent a heavy 62,028,589 dollars. Analyzing the previous elections that took place before Clinton vs. Bush, the party that spends the most money is the one that wins the election. Bill Clinton’s campaign may not have been the most financially influenced, but the role the money played in the election was key to it’s successful outcome.
Bill Clinton consistently pushed the ugly truth of the Nation’s current economic situation. George Bush, the president at the time, with help of president Reagan created a major separation between economic classes. Clinton used his money to advertise his plan of filling in the gap between the upper and lower class; creating a strong middle class.
Presidential candidates may choose to receive federal government funds to pay for the valid expenses of their political campaigns in both the primary and general elections. By making this decision the candidate has the benefit of getting additional funding from the federal government, but must abide by the rules of public funding which includes a cap on the maximum amount the candidate may spend in both the primary and general election.
In the 1992 election there were many different associations and companies that contributed to the election. Among those businesses were the top contributors to federal candidates and parties,
-The American Association for Justice- 96% of 1,238,500 to the Democratic Party
-AT&T Inc- 50
GENERAL ELECTION
Clinton's General Election Details:
Now in presidential elections candidates first have to prove their dedication to their particular party in the general elections (so as to get the vote and become a party nominee). From there each party nominee has to then show America (during the primary elections) that they are a centralist and can fulfill the desires of both wings (democratic and republican), this way they can get as many votes as possible regardless of party affiliation (and win over the swing states!).
Clinton won the party nominee spot for the democratic party. His general economic views and plans were very left
sided. But once Clinton got to the primary elections he did a great job of portraying himself as a centralist in his commercials.
COMMERCIALS: give the candidate the opportunity to advertise their abilities as the best. They also are often used to display the candidates neutrality as far as party affiliations.
EX. (of Clintons Commercial):
(This video asserts the point that Clinton and Gore "don’t think the way the old Democratic party did" (quote from the commercial). The commercial also represents Clintons views as more traditionally Republican than Democratic by expressing his desire to "end welfare as we know it." Clintons ability to appeal to both sides saved him his spot in the oval office.
ADS: allow the candidate to show what they believe the way they want to portray it (with out the distortion of media or the opposing side)
Clinton was very simplistic in his approach of ad layouts. He broadcast his economic plan by first explaining it himself then displaying the key facts in black writing backdropped by a white background with the key words underlined in red. An example of this is this add below:
NATIONAL DEBATES: effect the campaign by giving the people the opportunity to hear out each candidate on what they believe compared to the other candidate.
In Clinton's debates he seemed to be very comfortable and unintimidated with anything that was brought up. His charisma gave the nation confidence in his leadership. One of his presidential debates was held on a daytime talk show, where a live audience asked the candidates questions. The link below is a recording of one such debate.
Explanation of the video:
The question asked was how the national debt has effected the candidate personally. While Bush answered the question as only an observer of the debt, Clinton answered put himself in her place. First he asked her how it effected her again (even though she already stated it), and then he compared it to him by explaining how being the governor of a small state where he too had friends laid off work he personally knew the debt. He used the question to reiterate the close relationship of his citizens with himself and related it back to her. Bush answered the question as a president. Clinton answered the question as a citizen. Clinton showed himself in her position
instead of a presidential position. CLINTON'S INFORMALITY MADE IT EASY TO RELATE TO HIM AND TRUST HIM ON
A PERSONAL LEVEL.
STRATEGY: is used when trying to win the vote of a state. Candidates have to decide what state is more important to campaign in and so forth.
Clinton got all of the high electoral vote swing states except Florida. His strategy was to win over the swing states with high electoral votes, and that is how he won.
RESULTS:
Clinton only got 6% more popular vote than Bush. But the states he got were much higher in electoral votes. ex. California, New York, Pennsylvania (and even though he did not get Texas or Florida he had enough other states with medium electoral votes that he had a hundred over electoral votes than was necessary to win).
Clinton also won rural voters in the south and mid-west, carrying states such as Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Louisiana, Georgia, and Iowa (57 Electoral Votes).
And so the Boy Governor became President of the United States of America, and was even re-elected for a second term, and lived happily ever after (except for the Monica Lewinksy and the impeachment part).
THE END
