The Art of Being on the Campaign Trail

With statewide candidates (as well as local ones) having officially qualified for the upcoming primary election, it is interesting to note how campaigning has changed through the decades.

Certainly technological advances have made it possible for candidates who don’t have the largest war chests in terms of money to make a competitive go of it. That’s certainly true of it when you consider how much effort (and money) it takes to win a statewide campaign in Georgia.

For those of us who have always lived in the Peach State, we tend to forget just how much area Georgia covers. However, if you think about how long it takes to drive from the Northern part of the state to the coast or down to the Southern most areas around Valdosta or Thomasville then you realize why campaigning statewide is such a daunting undertaking.

Still even with Facebook and Twitter and texting and emails and such, there is still something about old-fashioned campaigning which includes meeting voters in person at rallies or forums.

It seems this year many statewide candidates are also using an old method of campaign signs. In my travels around the area I have seen signs for numerous candidates who are running for governor and secretary of state. I even saw one for the first time on Saturday for someone running for Lt. Governor.

Growing up I was always fascinated by the signs of political candidates. I can’t really explain why. It probably had something to do with the campaign itself. I enjoyed seeing the different designs used and the color schemes and how they were placed in high traffic areas as well as in the yards of people’s homes.

I also remember my mom never wanting the sign for any candidate – be it statewide or local – placed in our yard. In the summer of 1990 (back when the primary was still in the summer) I placed a sign for Roy Barnes in our yard. A friend of the family saw it and said to my mom, “I see you are for Roy Barnes.”

My mom, no doubt looking for a place to hide since someone had in fact sign a campaign sign belonging to not just Barnes but to any candidate, quickly responded, “no, that sign belongs to Chris.”

That actually was not the first sign we had in our yard as six years earlier during the race for county sheriff a family friend was running and I insisted we place one of his signs in our yard. The compromise ended up being that my mom would allow the sign but only if it was one of his smaller ones.

At one time it was common for candidates, even statewide ones, to run ads in local newspapers. I can remember this being common well into the 1990s. You don’t see it quite as often now although certainly local candidates still do it.

However, community-based newspapers are still a great way to reach older voters who still make it a ritual to read the local publication each week.

With the primary in Georgia now being weeks earlier than it used to be, candidates have less time to campaign once they have officially qualified. Of course a candidate who is serious about winning has already been in the campaign trail for months or even a couple of years by this point.

There will be various forums across the state, especially for Governor, in coming weeks and those are worth being at or watching on television if you get the chance. The Atlanta Press Club also sponsors televised debates each election year offering a quality forum in a non-biased approach.

There is no doubt that different candidates will take different approaches to getting their messages to potential voters in 2018. A great deal has changed since the first election I voted in back in 1990. One thing that remains the same, however, is the fact that each candidate should be studied carefully and your vote should be earned.

Monticello native Chris Bridges is a long-time newspaper columnist. He welcomes feedback from readers of The Monticello News at pchrisbridges@gmail.com.