In communications theory, there’s an idea called attribute agenda setting: As developed by UT Austin lecturer Max McCombs, it says the more the media talks about something, the more likely people are to think it’s important. Where the media get its agenda? Sadly, mostly from press releases and PR people.
In presidential primary terms, big campaigns make a big noise and get big coverage. For small and independently-minded campaigns, the result is what Dennis Kucinich‘s people call “a conspiracy of silence.” When the media stops talking about someone, people consider them less as a candidate.
Take John Edwards. Even when he’s talked about, he’s third in a two-horse race. Edwards was never taken seriously by the political establishment (sitting in a room in late 2006 with a bunch of election professionals and their hopeful acolytes, Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama were talked about already as Democratic front runners, when the potential for an Edwards campaign even starting was mentioned, it was met with near-derision) and the media picked up on that.
It’s not just the Democrats: ask Ron Paul, beating Rudy Giuliani in votes and convention delegates, but not coverage. In New Hampshire, Giuliani scraped ahead by one percentage point: but in Michigan, Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina, Paul has stomped the former New York mayor by between 2 and 10 points. Yet Rudy is still treated as a serious contender going into Florida – arguably because he sold consistently the idea that he would launch his real campaign in the Keys. Florida, Florida, Florida, he repeated &ndash like a man who understands attributes.
This article appears in January 25 • 2008.
