The Course is Using Media in Political Campaigns The Topic is the Governor of Missouri Dave Spence Write TEN page paper analyzing the communications/PR/media strategy that DAVE SPENCE used to run his...

Using Media in Political Campaigns
Using Media in Political Campaigns
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Using Media in Political Campaigns: The Case of Dave Spence
Using Media in Political Campaigns
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Abstract
The pivotal endeavor in this paper is to discuss about the role of media in the realm of
political campaigns and to reveal how effectively/ineffectively Dave Spence did
incorporate media strategies to gain momentum in his run for the position of the
governor of the state of Missouri. This paper will be going to discuss about the different
ways in which Dave Spence used media for enhancing his chances of winning the
election and whether or not such strategies were successful or effective. Moreover, the
paper will also discuss about the personality of Dave Spence, analyze some of the
advertisements funded by him and ultimately will discuss about the views of critics
regarding the policies applied by Dave Spence in relation to his political campaign.
Using Media in Political Campaigns
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Media has always played a crucial role in shaping the political careers of different
individuals. It is during the elections that the media exercises its greatest influence. It is
an interesting fact that with an eye towards acquiring media coverage that politicians
formulate their political campaign encompassing fundraising, press announcements,
staged events, major political speeches and so on. To reach their voters political
candidates usually are dependent on different forms of media including television,
newspapers, radio, magazines and Internet. They have to depend on these forms of
media as through them the political candidates convey their message to their potential
voters. In this modern era of technology and in the realm of modern democracy political
candidates lacking in formulating or adopting an effective media strategy is sure to face
failure which in turn can ruin their political career altogether. Hence, an effective media
strategy is very much needed on the part of political candidates primarily during the
times of elections as this media strategy is the keystone in determining the success or
failure of a concerned candidate.
Republican candidate for governor of Missouri, Dave Spence, did follow the path
of formulating a media strategy to gain competitive advantage over his rivals in the
election run and he did it following the tradition of myriads of other political candidates
who in the past through their effective media strategies won the votes and established
themselves in safe political positions. Dave Spence is a Republican. He grew up in
Overland, Missouri and earned his graduate degree in home economics from the
University of Missouri-Columbia in 1981 (“Dave Spence vs Jay Nixon”, n.d.). He started
his professional career as a chief executive of a plastic manufacturing company (which
Using Media in Political Campaigns
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actually was owned by him) and later on opted to run for the election for the position of
the governor of Missouri. Being an outspoken person Dave Spence have always tried to
prevent raises in taxes and aiming to improve the tax system he has opted for an easy
taxation policy that can help new businesses flourish and moreover, his another motto is
to eliminate 28 tax credit programs in the state of Missouri to smoothen the system of
taxation (“Dave Spence vs Jay Nixon”, n.d.). In respect of healthcare policies Dave
Spence is an opponent to Obama’s health care bill commonly known as the Obamacare
and is a staunch oppose to the process of abortion and embryonic stem-cell research
(“Dave Spence vs Jay Nixon”, n.d.). Apart from the mentioned issues, as a part of social
issue, Dave Spence, unlike his opponent Jay Nixon, had remained silent on the issue of
gay rights including gay marriage but as a part of his future education policy Dave
Spence did convey his willingness to increase the funding to public schools and to aid
the development process of technology training, vocational schools, and community
colleges in the state of Missouri and moreover, opposing to the No Child Left Behind
(NCLB) policy, Dave Spence did reveal his inclination towards expanding educational
options like charter schools in the state of Missouri (“Dave Spence vs Jay Nixon”, n.d.).
To formulate an effective political campaign Dave Spence did follow some known
steps that had also been used by different other politicians keen on winning specific
political seats. In his run for the position of governor of Missouri Dave Spence did
incline towards paid political advertising. This form of advertising is very common
during any election/political campaign and such advertisements are actually funded by
specific political candidates either to convey their message to the common mass or to
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enhance their political status. In this modern era with the passing of time day by day the
cost of television advertising is gradually touching the sky and keeping in mind this
truth Dave Spence did spend a good amount of money and to accumulate this money he
did spend an excessive amount of time in fundraising efforts.
It is a fact that in large states it often becomes difficult for the political candidates
to reach out to the masses and hence, in such cases, media plays a very crucial role in
helping these political candidates spread their message among the common public.
Keeping in mind this basic truth, Dave Spence, opting for becoming the governor of
Missouri, formulated such a media strategy which not only focused on pointing out the
drawbacks of his opponent but also emphasized on different ways of spreading his
political objectives among the populace of Missouri. In a large state like Missouri the
importance of incorporating media into political campaigns to convey the political
message had been felt by Dave Spence and hence, he almost left no stone unturned to
infuse in his political campaign the aspects of media. But it should be kept in mind that
Dave Spence’s media strategy was composed of both the paid media and the free media.
Apart from implementing his strategy of incorporation of paid media in the run for
governor, Dave...