Consultants, Pundits & Polls – Tuesday, October 25th

What role are consultants, pundits, special interests, and polls playing in this election? Offer an example of the impact each group has had on the 2016 presidential campaign.

Comedy & Politics – Tuesday, October 18th

How are the presidential candidates being presented on comedy programs? What impact do you think these satirical shows are having on this year’s election? And how does it compare to previous campaigns? Finally, if you were a campaign consultant, would you recommend that your candidate appear on one of these shows? 

Talk Shows – Tuesday, October 11th

Have talk shows been an effective way for the candidates and their surrogates to campaign during this election? If you were a campaign strategist, would you suggest more or less use of talk shows as campaign platforms? You should reference Jones Ch. 3 as well as at least three media examples from this year’s campaign to support your answer.     

Advertising – Tuesday, October 4th

What types of ads are we seeing this year? Are they more positive or negative in tone, and how do they compare to ads in previous campaigns? Based on the categories outlined by Trent et al Ch. 5 and Campaigns Ch. 3, offer examples of at least three different types of ads from the 2016 campaign and compare them to three similar historical ads that can be found on the website “The Living Room Candidate.” 

Debates – Thursday, September 29th **NOTE due date!

Assess each candidate’s performance in the first presidential debate. What debate strategies (noted in Trent et al Ch. 8) did they employ? How did their performances compare to those of previous candidates? And, if you were a debate coach, what advice would you give each candidate going into their next meeting? *Note: The due date for this blog post is noon on THURSDAY, September 29th. This will give you time to reflect on the first debate.

Online Campaign Communication – Tuesday, September 20th

How are the campaigns and their supporters using websites and social media in this campaign and how does it differ from previous campaigns? What kind of impact is online campaign communication having on the 2016 campaign? Along with referring to the class readings, use examples from the social media accounts and websites of each candidate to support your response. 

Media Campaign Coverage – Tuesday, September 13th

Why does stump campaigning remain an important part of the political process? How would you characterize the media coverage each campaign is generating from their cross-country travels? Refer to at least two of the class textbook readings for this week to support your response to the first question and offer examples of media coverage of both the Clinton and Trump campaigns when answering the second question.