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Cincinnati
Enquirer…
Rallies build
buzz; do they win races?
Pundits say visits
critical to excite supporters, entice media
by John Johnston
Oct 19, 2012
In Ohio this autumn, the presidential candidates and their running
mates are like pumpkins. They’re everywhere.
Since June 1, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have
visited 24 times; Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan have dropped in 39
times.
They’ve covered the state from A(kron) to Z(anesville) in search of
Ohio’s 18 precious electoral votes that make us a key swing state.
But do multiple personal appearances by candidates really sway the
vote? And why do people flock to those rallies in the first place?
Political pundits say candidates aren’t expecting to win over huge
numbers of undecided voters at the campaign stops. Rather, they aim to
energize supporters and generate buzz. The desired result is a
statewide ripple effect: More appearances mean reaching more people who
will influence their own family, friends and neighbors.
If candidates visit often enough, tens of thousands of loyal backers
will make numerous personal appeals of their own. Add in local news
coverage – it’s almost always positive – and the sum total is more
likely to tip the scales in a close election.
“Nobody likes to be ignored, so in a battleground state it’s very
important for candidates to get their core supporters really cranked up
and excited about working hard,” said David Yepsen, director of the
Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University in
Carbondale. Those core supporters “are the people that knock on doors
and man the phone banks and do the real shoe leather work that makes an
awful lot of difference in a close race.”
They’re people like Barbara Myers and Mark Hoffman. She’s a 66-year-old
Democrat from Hyde Park. He’s a 49-year-old Republican from Cleves.
After soaking in the hoopla surrounding Obama’s July 16 visit to Music
Hall, Myers left the event feeling “like I’m going to knock on every
door I can find. It’s sort of a high on politics. You’re very excited
and motivated and just want to get out there and tell everybody to go
and vote.”
Hoffman said seeing and hearing Ryan in person on Sept. 25 in Carthage
solidified his support for the GOP ticket. He described that event as
low-key, but he said Romney’s Lebanon rally “was real high-energy. The
crowd was very enthused. That pumps you up to get out and spread the
word.”
Campaigns hope to bring on the buzz
Yepsen said a candidate’s visit does more than pump up those at a
rally. “It also creates a buzz,” he said. And “that buzz is…
Read the rest of the article at Cincinnati Enquirer
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