Introduction
United States presidential election is one of the hotly contested elections in the country. The need by Americans to have a president that will help them continue upholding their status means that all contesting presidential candidates have to organize their presidential campaigns in a way that they will be able to lure the populace to follow them. The candidates try as much as possible to come up with agendas that would help improve the economic status of the country as well as promote the social welfare of the citizens. Basically one has to stand out from other contestants with respect to agendas and media used in driving his or her campaigns. John McCain is one of the presidential candidates who have run a strong campaign. This is with respect to his agendas and strategies used in running his campaign.
McCain’s Presidential campaign policies and strategies
Access to media
One of the factors that lead to a presidential candidate in the United States becoming popular is his or her ability to have access to media coverage. This is because most citizens rely on media coverage to gauge their candidates. John McCain understands this and as a result, he has come up with strategies that accommodate media coverage. As he continues with his campaign, McCain has tried to ensure that he always has access to media by making sure that he has media representatives in all his campaign drives. He is found to welcome media reporters in his convoy of campaigns. He has also ensured that he spends some time answering questions from the media people.
As media people in most cases represent the voice of the people, his ability to have time to answer some of the questions aired by the media people makes the population understand his campaign agendas (Alexander & McCain 97). This strategy has helped McCain nurture a cordial relationship with media people thus gaining constructive exposure from the media. This strategy is making most of the citizens be attracted to him as their potential president in the forthcoming presidential elections.
Answering all questions
McCain is one of the presidential candidates who ensure that he does not end his campaign day before answering all questions from the voters. He understands that for him to be victorious, he has to convince his voters by ensuring that they fully understand him and what he expects to do for them after being elected their president. His ability to ensure that he answers all questions from the voters makes all those who attend his campaigns go home satisfied.
This strategy is making McCain popular among the voters as they have continually understood him. Despite McCain vying for the presidency through the Republican Party, he is known for not always going with the Republican ideologies. He at times goes against these ideologies so as to make people understand him well by even expressing his agendas that are contradictory to the Republican party (Balz & Haynes pp. 145-156). This has made him develop a unique image from other presidential candidates who strongly cling to their political parties’ ideologies without considering if they are supported by the masses or not.
By McCain expressing his ideas regardless of whether they are in line with his party’s ideology, he has been seen to be nonconformist by the public. The strategy has led to people seeing him as one of the presidential candidates who will always be ready to stand for the interests of the masses without considering whether he will be at loggerheads with his supporters in the government. It is with this respect that the voters have started considering him as one of the candidates who always speaks out his mind regardless of whether his political allies will be hurt.
Use of retail politics
Retail politics refers to the state of going to the ground to meet the voters and have a direct conversation with them to gain insight into their ideas. This helps the presidential candidate align his presidential campaign with voters’ needs. McCain is known for his culture of organizing for meet-the-people tours. This allows him to have direct contact with the voters. They get ample time to ask questions on the burning issues affecting them and their country where McCain responds by informing him of some of the ways he intends to help them overcome these problems once he emerges the president of the country.
McCain is fond of holding meetings in town-halls located in most of the minor towns in the United States (Bumiller & Kirkpatrick 14). This gives him an opportunity to meet voters in grassroots who have been neglected by most of the presidential candidates. Ensuring that he has addressed the needs of the marginalized communities in his meet-the-people tour has helped him gain popularity in the country.
Focusing on independent voters
In the United States, there is a group of voters referred to as independent. Unlike other voters in the country who are most inclined to a specific political party, this group of voters is found to be autonomous and willing to support presidential candidates from any political party so long as their policies are found to address their interests. It is with this respect that John McCain has always articulated his campaign policies to lure this group of voters into his camp. Through this process, he has been able to attract most of the independent voters in the country to his camp thus adding to his popularity (Cook pp. 193-204).
Reduction in government expenditure
The previous regimes in the country have been criticized by the masses for their high expenditure. Most of the people in the country now wish to have a president who will be willing to cut down on government expenditure thus relieving the burden of being highly taxed. McCain being in Congress for many years has been able to identify some of the areas that the government channels its resources and which is not necessary for the country.
He has no doubt that by eliminating these areas the government will significantly cut down on its expenditures (eHow, Inc para. 2-5). This is the reason he has been able to take the advantage of the citizens wishing to have a president who will help in reducing the country’s expenses to come up with a campaign that informs the public about his intention to come up with a balanced budget once he is elected the next president. He has shown the public that he is very concerned about their money being corrected as tax and promised to ensure that this money will be used for productive issues by his government.
One of the areas he is promising to correct is the tendency of the current and previous regimes to spend public resources on projects that have not been approved by the senate or ordered for by the administration. He also promises to avoid a case of the government coming up with new expenditures during conferences that were neither discussed in the senate or Congress (Heilemann & Halperin 213). These agendas are making the public consider him as one of the potential candidates who are likely to relieve them of a burden they have carried for a long time.
Health care policies
Despite the United States is one of the developed countries, there are numerous cases of inequality in health care access among the citizens. The lower and middle-income earners have been found not to have good access to health care due to the expenses involved. It is with this respect that McCain has come up with a campaign agenda aimed at ensuring that health expenses in the country are reduced so as everybody has access to quality health care (Kirkpatrick 8).
One of the promises he has made is to ensure that he has enhanced competition among the health care providers to ensure that they have improved their quality of services and lower costs. This will lead to more people having access to quality health care at a lower cost. Inability by people to buy health insurance from the state has led to people having to face heavy costs offered by private organizations offering health insurance.
McCain believes in ensuring that every citizen has the freedom to get his or her desired health care rather than using state authority to force health care institutions to offer quality health care to the public. This is the reason he has come up with agendas in his campaigns aims at ensuring that every citizen in the country has access to health care by fostering competition in the health care industry (McCain 15).
Policies on energy
McCain has shown his interest in safeguarding American trade. Despite the adverse effects of sugar quotas and tariff hardships, he still believes that there are other measures that can be taken to ensure that the country’s trade is safeguarded. In his campaign agendas, he has strongly emphasized the need of the country to ensure that it has effectively utilized its energy. This is by ensuring that the available energy is well utilized as well as looking for other sources of energy.
Through this it will be possible o ensure that the country’s economy is stable. McCain has promised to get rid of federal regulations that have hampered the ability of the country to explore and drill oil wells in its offshore. He argues that these laws have led to the country experiencing high food prices. Having its independent source of oil will ensure that the country has a regular source of energy thus promoting efficient food production and shipment across the country (Mondo Stars para. 1-6).
Throughout his campaign, McCain has been found to strongly emphasize on the need to enhance the country’s energy reservoirs through advocating for the establishment of more nuclear power plants to boost the country’s power. Most of the people have seen his policies as productive since they will not only lower expenses with respect to food prices but will enhance productivity in domestic industries thus increasing the employment rate in the country.
Environment conservation
McCain believes in the need of the country to ensure that it has contributed to the fight against environmental degradation. He understands the adverse effects of global warming and believes that these effects can be mitigated without the country incurring a lot of expenses. On seeing how wind energy has continuously improved the country’s economy. McCain is currently encouraging for use of wind and other renewable sources of energy in the country. His move to address environmental issues affecting the country has led to him being viewed by the public as a real patriot who is mindful of his country (The Los Angeles Times para. 3-6).
Conclusion
For one to gain support from the public, he or she has to come up with campaign strategies that are attractive to the public as well as coming up with agendas that are found to address the interest of the public. McCain has been found to run a strong campaign due to his campaign strategies and agendas that are favorable to the public. Ensuring that he has access to media has helped him gain positive coverage from it. In most cases positive coverage by the media makes the citizen change their perception towards a specific presidential candidate.
Ensuring that he organizes for meet-the-people tours and answer all their questions has led to more people having confidence in his leadership. McCain has been able to establish some of the criticism the previous government regimes have received from the public and organized his campaign based on them. This has helped him come up with campaign policies that greatly lure the public to endorsing him as their favorite candidate. His campaign strategies have led to him standing out from other presidential candidates.
Works Cited
Alexander, Paul & McCain, John. Man of the People. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2008.
Balz, Dan & Haynes, Johnson. The Battle for America, 2008: The Story of an Extraordinary Election. New York: Viking Penguin, 2009.
Bumiller, Elisabeth & Kirkpatrick, David. “Romney Is Out; McCain Emerges as G.O.P. Choice.” New York Times, 2008.
Cook, Charles. “The 2008 Presidential Primaries: What in America’s Name Is Going On?” The Washington Quarterly, 31.3 (2008): 193-204.
eHow, Inc. “How to Run a Campaign like John McCain.” 2010. Web.
Heilemann, John & Halperin, Mark. Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime. New York: HarperCollins, 2008.
Kirkpatrick, David. “In ’74 thesis, the seeds of McCain’s war views.” The New York Times, 2008.
McCain, John. “My six years of hell: John McCain recalls life as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.” Daily Mail, 2008.
Mondo Stars. “John McCain: Fearless, powerful and classy.” 2010. Web.
The Los Angeles Times. “John McCain’s comment on a ‘strong’ economy sets up the day’s debate.”. 2008. Web.