June 29, 2007
Democrats' Independence Day In Iowa
Ahead of Hillary Rodham Clinton's visit lengthy visit to Iowa over the Fourth of July holiday, her team is embracing the new campaign phenomenon of tracking.
This afternoon, Clinton's staff introduced "HillCam" -- "an exclusive behind-the-scenes look" at the trip, upon which she will be accompanied by Bill Clinton. One thing can be gleaned from the announcement: After a string of strong debate performances, her team is clearly confident that Clinton is not George Allen or Conrad Burns, who were both felled by problematic spontaneous moments on the trail when running for re-election last year.
On another note, the campaign has also been gearing up to introduce the former president in this race in a big way. The man from Hope has popped up here and there, but next week's Iowa trip is being hailed in a de facto way as his coming-out party on the trail.
HillCam itself and the stepped up presence of Bill Clinton are two of the ways the Clinton campaign is embracing the media from multiple access points -- keeping pace or staying a step ahead of rival Barack Obama.
Obama has so far taken the more conventional media approach -- his paid media component launched (subscription) in none other than Iowa earlier this week with two TV spots and two radio spots.
The Obama campaign has had video of the candidate's appearances on its site, but many of those are stump speeches and more packaged videos. Should HillCam play out as planned, the campaign says it "will offer an unvarnished look at the Clintons’ first joint-campaigning of the 2008 race" and suggests that there's a growing comfort with the senator's ability to handle surprises on the trail.
What's more, between the new effort, the theme song contest and the "Sopranos" spoof before the unveiling of the song, the Clinton team is proving that it is aggressively courting attention in multiple media arenas and showing off all sides of the candidate.
Obama, however, seems to be more focused on a streamlined message. His radio ads, which debuted in Iowa on Wednesday -- one day after his TV ads -- tout a general-election-like message of bipartisanship even more strongly than the first release. "For eight years in the Illinois Senate, he chose to bring Democrats and Republicans together to tackle the toughest problems," the first ad boasts. The other paints Obama as someone who has taken the road less traveled to effect change and urges listeners to see that "the choices he's made tell you a lot about the president he'll be."
The radio ads end in pushing voters to visit the Iowa portion of Obama's Web site. And the fact that HillCam makes its debut in Iowa isn't coincidence: The battle for the Hawkeye State is on.
Posted at 2:52 PM
Posted to:
Barack Obama, Campaigns, Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, WH 2008
Share via
