With Boots or Suits, Candidates Carefully Craft First Impressions
The announcement of a candidacy for president can leave a lasting impression.
While it's only a single day in a marathon campaign, it's also the first glimpse that many voters get of a candidate. And, as we all know, first impressions matter.
Democratic strategist Chris LeHane calls these announcements "the reality TV shows of politics," adding: "Each announcement is designed to out-entertain the prior announcements."
Take the declarations of candidacy by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and former senator John Edwards (D-N.C.).
Edwards -- clad in jeans, a tan work shirt and boots -- entered the race just after Christmas, making his announcement in front of a New Orleans home, destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, that was being rebuilt.
Obama -- casual in a suit coat and an open-necked shirt -- countered with a low-key and decidedly serious video sent to supporters last week.
"The announcement strategies reflect the state of the candidacies," said Stephanie Cutter, a Democratic consultant well-versed in image politics, in an e-mail. "Sen. Obama's celebrity allows for him to control three news cycles with a simple and articulate internet video, while Sen. Edwards smartly took advantage of a slow news cycle and executed a multi-state tour to make national news."
And now Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) is in the race, joining the fray with a two-minute video clip shot from her home in the District.
The understated tone of the Clinton announcement -- released on a Saturday via video -- ran counter to suggestions the Fix fielded earlier in the week about how the senator should make it official.
Jamal Simmons, a founder of Cherry Tree Mobile Media, suggested an aircraft carrier as an appropriate backdrop to convey Clinton's "serious times demand serious leaders" message. Unfortunately, "George Bush ruined that photo op," he said.
Matt Bennett, a partner in Third Way, a centrist Democratic advocacy group, suggested that Clinton go deliberately low-tech.
"High-tech announcements are totally last cycle," he said. "Clinton should go retro-chic. How about a slide show? Or maybe a filmstrip?"
2 days: Will Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" be nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary film? And would such an accolade increase the pressure on the former vice president to consider a run for president in 2008? We'll know the answer to the first question in 48 hours.
19 days: Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R) makes a stop in Alabama to speak to the state's Republican Executive Committee. Why? No longer content with its spectator status in the nomination fights every four years, Alabama has moved its presidential primary from June 2008 to February 5, 2008.
