All Articles Tagged "campaigns"
Money, Sandy, The Women’s Vote — Various Factors Stir Up The Election
President Obama speaking about Hurricane Sandy relief at the Red Cross HQ in Washington DC yesterday. Image: Rex Features via AP Images
The economy, Hurricane Sandy, the women’s vote and campaign fundraising are the current topics of discussion when it comes to the election.
Hurricane Sandy will no doubt have an impact on early voting in the mid-Atlantic, southern New England and inland states. This could affect Obama more, says former President Bush and McCain adviser Mark McKinnon in The Daily Beast. The President is counting on early votes and even cast one himself. The Obama camp, however, says he is more focused now on the impact the storm has had on people rather than the election.
“I am not worried at this point about the impact on the election. I’m worried about the impact on families and I’m worried about the impact on our first responders. I’m worried about the impact on our economy and on transportation. You know, the election will take care of itself next week,” said the President.
Besides the weather, the other “W” that will have an impact on the election, says McKinnon, is the wallet.
“A majority of Americans still describe the current economic situation as poor, and likely voters now trust Romney more than Obama to do a better job of managing it, 51 percent to 44 percent, according to a recent AP-GfK poll,” McKinnon points out.
The polls also play into the third “W” — women. According to that same AP-GfK poll Mitt Romney has made inroads with women, overcoming the President’s 16-point lead with that demographic. However, President Obama has made gains with men, erasing Romney’s lead there.
“A month ago, Romney’s advantage among men was 13 percentage points. Now, it’s down to 5 points, with most of the shift toward Obama coming among unmarried men,” reports Yahoo News.
According to Forbes, there are three reasons Obama is losing the women’s vote: some women think the President isn’t paying enough attention to foreign affairs; The Paycheck Fairness Act, which is meant to further equal pay, but may cause other problems for job creation; and the negative perception of President Obama as a leader.
BusinessWeek has a roundup of the various latest polls.
-An Oct. 24-28 survey by the Pew Research Center found Obama and the former governor of Massachusetts each supported by 47 percent, a slight gain for the president from an Oct. 4-7 Pew poll.
-Another poll has the race at a dead heat. An ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll had both tied at 49 percent.
-Yet another poll, this one Gallup’s daily tracking poll of about 2,700 likely voters, had Romney ahead, 51 percent to 46 percent. But as fickle as polls are, the Pew poll, had Obama leading, 50 percent to 44 percent, among likely women voters, while Romney led, 51 percent to 44 percent, among men.
It’s no wonder then that both camps still have their fundraising efforts in high gear. October saw Hollywood raise $13 million for President Obama, due in large part to a fundraiser held at the home of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. This election cycle has seen a stunning $2 billion raised, not including the super PAC and other outside nonprofit dollars that have poured into this campaign.
“The eye-popping figure puts the election on track to be the costliest in modern U.S. history,” reports AP.
Crossing Cultures and The Line: Is Multicultural Advertising Effective?
by Makula Dunbar
When thinking about advertising, the process behind showcasing a great product or service to mass consumers seems simple. First off, it helps to actually have a great universal product. Second, it’s strategizing and creating either a funny, identifiable or emotional message. Lastly, it’s placing the ad on TV, radio, print or the World Wide Web. Sound about right? Not exactly.
In actuality, advertising can be complex. Add a cultural approach to the equation, even more so. Unfortunately, a three-part checklist won’t do the trick. If only each and every consumer was one in the same, what an easy task it would be to get messages across. However, with an estimated U.S. Asian population of 15.5 million and a Hispanic population of 48.4 million, there’s no denying ethnicity and culture is a prevalent staple in everyday life—that deserves recognition.
“The number of corporations that do specific ethnic advertising is still relatively small,” says Burrell Communication co-CEO Fay Ferguson. “Making communications programs beamed at these audiences is not only necessary, but critical.”
McDonald’s Corporation —one of Burrell’s long-standing clients — is an example of one that outsources, allowing the agency to create advertisements for the African-American community.
Hard to Reach
With recent studies, advertisements and agencies pushing cross-cultural communications, it’s a blur as to what multicultural tactics are even effective. Should agencies stretch one message or slogan across cultures without alteration? Should advertisers reach out to individual ethnicities tailoring their brand so that’s it’s culturally relevant? Is it absolutely necessary for advertisers to reach out to every market?
“It’s definitely important for companies to understand that the Latino community is growing. The Asian community is growing as well and if they don’t tap into these communities, they’re going to find themselves in a very small segment in the actual market,” said Alfonso Covarrubias, creative director at multicultural advertising agency Maya.
Grand Jury Reviewing Gray Campaign
(Washington Examiner) — A federal grand jury is hearing evidence into accusations of election misdeeds leveled by a former mayoral candidate at D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray’s campaign, The Washington Examiner has learned. The U.S. Attorney’s office turned to the grand jury in April as part of its ongoing assessment of Sulaimon Brown’s charges that members of Gray’s mayoral campaign passed Brown cash-stuffed envelopes and money orders so he would stay in the race and keep up his verbal assault on then-Mayor Adrian Fenty, an attorney associated with the case confirmed to The Examiner. A law enforcement source confirmed a grand jury was involved in the case, but would not discuss it further.
Ex-Governor's Effort to Block Black Vote Goes to Court
(Baltimore Sun) — The Ehrlich campaign’s alleged effort to keep blacks from voting last November could have the opposite effect for years to come, according to political observers who said indictments over the automated phone calls would become election-season fodder for Democrats. Tantalizing details suggesting an organized strategy of black voter suppression emerged Thursday when Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich’s campaign manager and political consultant were charged with violating election laws. The details filled out a narrative that the Democratic Party went to great pains in November to promote: Maryland Republicans are dirty tricksters. At a news conference then, top officials, including Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, rehashed a series of election episodes such as busloads of homeless Philadelphians being recruited to hand out misleading campaign fliers in 2006.
Some Cry Foul as Mandela Enters Political Spotlight
(The Grio) — He looked older and frailer than many had remembered; his hair seemed to be a brighter shade of white. But the Mandela magic was still there; the sunny shirt, sunnier smile and enduring aura of the world’s greatest political icon. The video and images, released Monday, showed 92-year-old Nelson Mandela voting in municipal elections, two days ahead of the rest of the nation. He was photographed as a special ballot box was delivered to his Johannesburg mansion, so he didn’t have to travel to a polling station. It was the first sighting of the ‘The Father of the Nation’ since he was admitted to the hospital with a respiratory illness in January. Millions of South Africans were warmed by the images — and, perhaps few more than the leaders of his party, the African National Congress (ANC). They stand to benefit from the publication of the pictures.
Obama 2012 in Recruitment Mode
(AP) — President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is barely a month old, but Camille Gervasio and other volunteers nationwide already are hard at work. ”Are you with us? Are you in?” Gervasio asks into her iPhone, dialing through a call sheet resting on her laptop to line up supporters for an election 18 months away. In call centers like this one on the eighth floor of an office building, the president’s backers are trying to take advantage of a head start over the still-forming Republican field and the benefits of incumbency to rebuild a grassroots effort that mobilized millions of voters in 2008. Obama’s campaign has pledged to reach out to every voter it was in contact with during his first run, a herculean 50-state organizational effort to reconnect with its supporters — some of them now disillusioned with the president because of his policies — while giving it an early indication of any vulnerabilities among critical constituent groups.
Luke Campbell's Language Keeps Him Out Miami Debate
(News One) — As former rapper Luke Campbell continues on his campaign to become the mayor of Miami, he is unwittingly coming up against cultural tides that will affect the political future of all African-Americans. A recent mayoral debate for candidates in the Miami race was held at the publicly-funded Florida International University — but it was restricted to Spanish-speaking candidates only.
Judge OKs Carl Lewis' Run
(Time) — Track and field legend Carl Lewis finally found a court willing to help him get into the race for the New Jersey state Senate — but there’s a chance his run will be fleeting. A three-judge panel of the Philadelphia-based U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that Lewis’ name should be included when the ballots are printed for the 8th Legislative District Democratic state Senate primary. While the three-judge panel granted that emergency request, it didn’t make a final ruling on whether he’s eligible for office. Lewis’ lawyer, William Tambussi, said that under the ruling, “the voters, not a partisan elected official, will decide who should be the state senator in the 8th Legislative District.”
Kwame Brown to be Deposed
(Washington Post) — D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown will be deposed Monday as part of the Office of Campaign Finance investigation into how he used and accounted for money he raised in his 2008 reelection campaign. Wesley Williams, a spokesman for the Office of Campaign Finance, said Brown (D) will be put under oath about 10 a.m. Monday in the office of his lawyer, Frederick Cooke. “This is just part of the investigation,” Williams said.
Orange, White and Anderson Win D.C. Special Elections
(Washington Informer) — Unofficial election results indicate that Trayon White, the executive director of Helping Inner City Kids Succeed, Inc., has scored an up-set in the Ward 8 School Board of Education race Tuesday. If the results hold, he will have defeated Phillip Pannell and seven other candidates. Pannell, a well known activist in Ward 8, was endorsed by the Washington Post and the powerful Gertrude Stein Democratic Club. White, 26, is a Ward 8 resident who graduated with honors from Bally Senior High School in Southeast. He also graduated magnum cum laude from the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore. White, who received the endorsement of Ward 8 Council member and former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, managed to garner 33 percent of the vote by midnight in a special election marked by low voter turnout in many of the 143 precincts scattered throughout the District. Unofficial returns show that a scant 12.1 percent of voters made their way to the polls. The Ward 8 candidates had been jostling for position in a crowded race that hinged on who best articulated the desire to push education and education reform forward. The vacancy on the School Board came following the death of incumbent and longtime Ward 8 champion William Lockridge.
