Political Campaigns: What Are the Costs?

This was '72. What is campaigning like today?

Keep your eye on the ball. Take one for the team. Sprint to the finish line. Step up to the plate. Call in the heavy hitters. That's a slam dunk. In recent years, phrases such as these have crossed from the sports pages to the political pages as politicians and writers increasingly use sports metaphors to explain the political process.

But widespread athletic nomenclature, especially portraying political campaigns as sports contests, is troubling to some observers of the political scene such as American University Communications Professor Leonard Steinhorn.

"It frustrates me," Steinhorn says. "This is not a game. Campaigns are really not about entertainment; they are about consequences. They determine our history and our future."

Tonight, Steinhorn moderated a 5-member panel at the National Archives here which discussed the topic Past, Present, and Future of Congressional and Presidential Campaigns. The panel members were:

• Fred Thompson (R), a former Tennessee Senator and candidate for president
• Jim Slattery (D), a former Congressman from Kansas
• Bob Livingston (R), a former Congressman from Louisiana
• Chet Edwards (D), a former Congressman from Texas who was on the short list of running mates for President Barack Obama and
• John Ashford, a political consultant who has worked on more than 200 campaigns around the world.

In their individual remarks, all the panelists agreed that campaigning today is dominated by money and media coverage.

"Today, it's money, money, money," said Livingston, who was the winner in 12 of the 14 campaigns he engaged in before retiring from politics..

Edwards lamented that it is becoming increasingly difficult in a politically polarized America to be viewed as a moderate.

"Moderates are an endangered species, if not an extinct species," Edwards said, noting his belief that compromise is essential in politics and should not be considered a dirty word. "There is no political incentive to come to the middle. In fact, you can sometimes be punished for crossing the aisle."

Ashford, who has led numerous campaigns, said he sees 3 increasing trends in the coming years. First, is the effects of new technology and the internet. "Now there is a record of everything that happens and if it happens it will come out," Ashford said. Then there are the Super PACS with their amazing amounts of money to spend. For example, Ashford said by mid April, $90 million had been spent on the Republican presidential campaign. Ashford also said there is an increasing tendency for more partisan party members to oppose members of the same party, a situation that was virtually unheard of in old-time politics.

Slattery said that he won his first campaign on his 24th birthday by knocking on doors and initially spending $200 on campaign pamphlets. He said he fears "the profound effect on the political process of the fading out of localism" once provided by local newspapers. "People believed what they were reading but that belief of truth is gone,"Slattery said.

Thompson said that while public approval of politicians may be at an all-time low, "there are still a lot of good people that are running for the right reasons."  He also contended that a complete study of U.S political campaigns from the 18th Century to today would show that such campaigns, unseemly as they may seem, are actually "cleaner and more ethical than they have ever been."

"The public still determines outcomes," Thompson said. "Whatever is rewarded is what is going to be done."

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
Thompson, who is also known for his movie portrayals and his starring role in the long-running TV series Law and Order, showed that he has not lost that Tennessee ability to appreciate down-home wisdom. He said that a political old-timer once told him the best way to be successful in politics is to first "run in a good year" and then "remain 1 step ahead of the undertaker and 2 steps ahead of the sheriff."