Candidate Centered Election

During the 2008 primaries, there were not clear front runners for either the Republican or the Democratic parties. Hilary Clinton was the favored choice of party heads, but soon lost the strong lead she had and was up against Barack Obama in a head to head match. The Republican Party was being fought over by five candidates, all very different from one another. Hilary Clinton, to the Democratic Party, seemed to be the main choice to really serve as an Agent for the Democratic Party. She had many strong ties to the party, was a former first lady, the senator of New York, and was liked by the heads of the democratic party and much of the media. She seemed to be the perfect fit to reflect the collective views and history of the Democratic party. The Republicans faced a problem where all five of their leading primary candidates did not seem to fit the bill for being an agent of Republican views. They were all very different from one another which led to John McCain pulling forth.

The two final presidential nominees led very strong candidate centered campaigns. McCain was not the favorable candidate by many of his party leaders but he was perceived as a war hero, he was popular with many media outlets, he had a strong campaign team, he raised a lot of money at the start of his campaign and he marketed himself as a "Maverick". It makes sense in a way that the Republican candidate that pulled through did so because of a candidate centered strategy. This focus on the candidate and draw away from the Republican party as a whole helped to try to remove McCain from the negative views that the current party was under at the time. He tried hard to get "independents" and new voters, and a candidate centered campaign helped him to be able to do this.

Barack Obama led a very candidate centered campaign as well. He had high standings in the polls, had a huge surge of fund raising turn out (with the help of the netroots: blogs, e-mail lists, meetups, and much more to not only give his campaign a feeling of change but acceptance and incorporation). He had a lot of media coverage, not only on regular television and radio but on the Internet as well including YouTube videos and many other blogs. People wore his face on t-shirts, stickers, buttons, and anything else you could think of more than anyone else. There was a feeling that people were not necessarily rallying behind the democratic party, but Obama as an individual. It seemed that in this instance and in this day and age with the Internet being the source of information along with multiple 24 hour news stations, the candidate centered approach seemed to win out over the Party. Even more so as Obama was preaching "Change" from the old ways and the old system, possibly "Change" from the Agency of a party and the party leaders having the say over who is elected.

Barack Obama's website during the elections, and even now when he is president, showcases many of Teachout's recommendations for campaigning in this Internet society. His website currently showcases his addresses to the nation, his recovery plans, blogged news updates about his Presidency and a still active "My Barack Obama" account area which has active listserves to send out emails in order to back the President, Blogs my individual members and the community, and meeting tools for events that are going on in certain areas. There are still options to donate and fund raise as well as buy merchandise. Even though Obama is President and will not be up for reelection for another three years, having his website still active and still updating his supporters keeps him active and really showcases the idea that Anthony King was discussing that the election process is never ending and while running the country is the elected officials jobs, they still need to keep a positive and active position in the minds of the voting public.