Minister Al-X

"Cosby in 2008?" Framing Our Candidates

The Atlantic Monthly has an interesting editorial this month titled "Cosby in 2008?", which provides a list of possible candidates with "star-power" (and I would add "framing-power") who the Dems could run for office in 2008. Their list includes Tom Brokaw, Lance Armstrong, the New School's Bob Kerry and Tom Hanks amongst others.

Some of them may have a real chance of winning the nomination, while others are longshots who nonetheless represent the type of candidate who might make a run for the White House. Some are larger-than-life personalities; some have been wildly successful in business; some are already household names; and some are all of the above. Most importantly—with apologies to the governor of Iowa— each can make a more exciting candidate than Tom Vilsack.

At the bottom of the list is my favorite- Anthony Zinni. But while I would love to see him run for President in 08, wouldn't it make more sense to run Zinni for Senate in PA in 06?

Other potential candidates left off the list, whom I would also love to run, or who are already running, for Senate or Governor positions in 06, and whom I would consider "framing candidates" include Elliot Spitzer, Wes Clark, Paul Newman (who has been mentioned as a Joe-mentum alternative), and Utah resident Robert Redford (how about a run for Utah's senate seat, which Orin Hatch may vacate?).

But regardless of who the Dems choose to run, I see this as a great move in the right direction for the way we think about who will represent our causes on the national stage. It's not enough for us to field candidates who are simply "good on the issues". We absolutely must begin to field candidates who embody our values, who show our strengths, and who have star power or sex appeal. If we're truly going to catch up to the Repugnants we have to learn the lessons that they did about national marketing of their political candidates and their party. We need to better market our messages, and to do this we need to ensure that we have candidates in the spotlight who can deliver those messages, with their words, their faces, and their lives. People vote, for better or (usually) worse, for candidates they identify with, so it's time for the Dems to get with the program and push forward liberal candidates with sex/star appeal.

posted by Anonymous @ 10:11 AM