The Campaign of John McKay

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“The Candidate” is a prime example to the inside of a campaign and the inside of an election. Elections do not only include the candidate themselves but the campaign manager, the supporters, the nominee’s family and the media crew. During “The Candidate” democratic nominee John McKay uses many strategies in order to “not” win his election for senator of California. Going into this campaign McKay was in hopes that he would not win the election, as time passed his view of the election changed as did his strategies.

Many of the campaign strategies used by John McKay include him saying what he wants, doing what he wants and going where he wants. While his campaign manager may have put a strict hold on that idea John McKay always found a way to put his personal touch to the situation at hand. In the beginning of the election he pushed hard to win over the union by greeting them and introducing himself as they got off of work, but towards the end he won over Mr. Starkey (almost like the union president) by disrespecting him (the union president thought he was joking). He makes Jarmen look like a liar by saying things along the lines of: “Why is Jarmen saying he’ll debate with me and he wont even show up?!”. Once he realized that a speech he gave moved the people he began saying it every place he went to. By doing this he was molding exactly what he stood for into their heads.

John McKay wanted his campaign to stray away from the usual machine type of politics. He wished to run his own campaign exactly how he pleased and it would work! When he was playing by the rules, being a nice guy and doing what his campaign manager told him to do he was receiving hardly any attention. As time progressed he became more of himself and this...

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...s head around his victory and did not seem pleased. He was overwhelmed by the attention he was receiving and only wanted to be alone to speak with his campaign manager. This may reflect the goals of the major party because he may not achieve the goals he told the people he would do. McKay could fall through if he returns to acting the way he wants to.

“The Candidate” is the prime example of how an election is ran including the campaign strategies, the media, the debates, and the arguments. While Jarmens campaigning was not completely viewed throughout the movie it was clear he knew McKay was a threat. McKay’s idea of running a campaign included his personal touches of not listening to his campaign manager. Actually listening to what the people want and what they need seems to gain their attention and vote; this is the strategy that won McKay the election.

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