Replies

John Kennedy, though, is a great example of why in the 1960s you could bypass primaries, essentially. Kennedy had a monster PR machine, beginning with his "books" ("Profiles in Courage," ghost-written for him); his dad's 360 day-a-year PR effort, and so on. Indeed, if you look at the Kennedy presidency (as I'm doing in a new book) you see that he adopted a revolutionary style of dealing with the press. He coopted them; was the first to hand out prepared comments in advance; held social functions with them; fed them nuggets of info; and brought some directly into the White House.

I don't know how anyone can apply history---and I'm a professional historian---when, by moving the primaries up a good six months, it renders null and void old methods of doing things.

Howard Dean is a great example: he relied on all flash and not substance. He got headlines by touting his internet campaign of "young people," but they don't vote, and they ESPECIALLY DON'T VOTE in primaries. Beleive it or not, it is the blue hairs who vote in the primaries: the party activists that go to all the BBQs, call-a-thons, lit drops, and dinners. They run the party organizations, the wards, the precincts; they staff all the offices and phones; they conduct all the statistical analysis; and they know all the gossip of why one candidate appeals to people and another doesn't. This is stuff you absolutely have to be on the ground to judge.

You're right, 'it renders null and void old methods of doing things.' Fred has made his visits to a number of places(see below). These are just some of the news headlines. Also, look at the way Fred uses the internet. Quite differently from Dean, Fred is an avid blogger and web surfer. How the heck did he get a response out to Michael Moore after Moore challenged him to debate? The internet. His response to Moore came in a few hours, instead of days when the press could catch him with a microphone in his face.

It is a different campaign, Fred is on the ground shaking hands, answering questions, doing the things a candidate does, BUT he re-enforces that with his almost daily blog on the net.

I said it in April, this is going to be a very different kind of campaigning. This is going to be a YouTube campaign.

These are just some fo Fred's 'visits' in the last few months. He does have 'boots on the ground'.

These early visits, coupled with his messages posted on the Imwithfred website portray all his views on a variety of subjects. Look at the other candidates. are they as prolific? Hardly. As a historian, you of all people, should be looking back on how things were done compared to the use of the advances in technology and how Fred utilizes them now.

if you look at the Kennedy presidency (as I'm doing in a new book) you see that he adopted a revolutionary style of dealing with the press. He coopted them;

Didn't JFK do the same with the Giancana mob in Chicago - use them. Some observers say it was Sam Giancana's help in fixing ballots in Chicago that got Kennedy elected, and in exchange a Kennedy justice department was to be hands off the mob. Of course, John Kennedy got his brother Bobby appointed to head Justice, and the rest is history as Bobby went after the mob anyway. I wonder if this is true?