“A campaign is about defining who you are – your vision and your opponent’s vision.”
--A. Belize, Campaign manager for Al Gore in the 2004 presidential election
Your vision, your beliefs, your leadership for America.
Why should we vote for you?
Miss Cordes - English 2 - September 2008
campaignYOU 2008
Purposes of this project:
campaignYOU 2008 – Cordes
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1)To practice critical reading and writing skills
2)To widen your view of the world and the politics that exist in our every day life
3)To give you the chance to research what it is that YOU really care about
4)To enhance vocabulary skills
5)To provide an outlet for creative, innovative, and fresh new thinking, designing, and creating
6)To improve media and information literacy skills
7)To build understanding of point of view
8)To learn about the components of speech writing
9)To expand on your understanding of figurative language
10)To introduce and practice using argumentation techniques
campaignYOU 2008 – Cordes
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What you will be doing:
After a long season of tough competition in the primaries, you have been chosen by your party to run for president of the United States. As the convention nears, you must be prepared to talk to the public about the following:
- Your qualifications and experience (what is it that makes you a good candidate for president? You can have some fun with this…for example you can say that you served in the Vietnam war for 3 years and also worked on student council in high school)
- Your values and issues that you believe in (what are the issues that are most important to you? How do you feel about them? How is your passion for these issues going to be good for the rest of America?)
- Your vision for the future (how are you going to run the country? What can Americans expect to see when you are in the White House? How will we benefit with you in there?)
You will prepare for the convention by creating the following:
1)Doing background research about the issues.
2)Creating a campaign slogan, graphics, and choosing a theme song.
3)Students will create a campaign mailer promoting their candidacy, their party, and their qualifications for president.
4)Students will create a political advertisement. This can be done as a video (between 30 and 60 seconds) or in print (would appear in a newspaper or in a magazine).
5)Students will write a speech that outlines their qualifications, experience, and vision for the future of the country (speech will not be read in front of the class, only for extra credit)
The Research (20 points)
In order for you to put together a successful campaign, you must begin by researching the issues at hand and the voters that you are trying to reach. This research also ties in closely with the choices that you make for the campaign slogan and graphics that you choose. Complete the following questions on this sheet before working on any other part of the project. You may type them up on a separate sheet if there is not enough.
- What is your story? This is where you have room to be as creative as you like. You will have to fictionalize parts of your life as you create the story of how you came to be a candidate for the next president of the United States. Tell the brief version here:
- What are your strengths? Weaknesses? List out the qualities that you possess that are going to make you a great candidate. Knowing this will help you decide what to talk about in your speech and highlight in your advertising and mailer. You must also know your weaknesses.
- What are the THREE issues that you want to use as your platforms? Describe the three issues that you feel strongly about. List what they are, your position, and what you plan to do about changing America when you enter the White House in regard to these issues. (see BarackObama.com and JohnMcCain.com for their stances on the major issues for the 2008 election)
The Slogan, Graphics, and Theme Song (10 points)
1. Create a campaign slogan: (4 points)______
Examples: Obama: “Change We Can Believe In”, McCain: “Country First”
2. What will your campaign graphic/logo look like? Here are a few examples. Sketch yours below. (4 points)
3. When you walk on stage, into a room, or get pumped for a speech in your bus, you need to have a campaign theme song. What is it? Why did you choose that song? (2 points)
The Campaign Mailer (30 points) Many presidential candidates choose to reach the American people by using the mail. It is a way for the candidate to be specific about their ideas, passions, and platforms. You will create a campaign mailer that includes several elements. The mailer should be neatly organized, make use of your campaign slogan and images, and use consistent font and graphic choices. This part of the project should be turned in as an actual mailer – folded, signed, and placed in an envelope.
Introduction Letter (10 pts)
The introduction letter is the first thing the general public will see from you in writing. This should be the cover page of the mailer. It should be friendly, professional, and make important connections between you and your voters.
Introduce yourself
Use at least one graphic
What are your major platforms?
What changes do you plan to make once you get to Washington?
Additional Pages: (20 points)
Your Platforms
What are the THREE MAIN issues that you are passionate about? Spell it out.
What is your stand on the issues?
How is your stance on these issues good for the American people?
Feel free to use graphic organizers or bullet point format. This should be a “reference guide” that anyone could pick up and quickly inform themselves of your major platforms.
Make sure you answer the question, “Why you?”
YourCandidate Bio
Introduce yourself, but this time more in depth
Where are you from? How does your life make you a good candidate?
Talk about your experience…what makes you qualified for this job?
This should be in multi-paragraph format
The Political Advertisement (30 points) In order to reach an even wider audience, a campaign will create a series of political advertisements. These ads are on the television, in the papers, and in magazines. Political advertisements fall into one of four categories: biographical, issue-oriented, value-laden, or negative. Choose one of the categories and create an advertisement that does the following:
- Is visually engaging
- Is persuasive and convincing – show the public why you are the best choice
- Uses colors, graphics, sound, and pacing effectively (remember our computer lab activity?)
The advertisement may be a single image (like you would find in a magazine or newspaper), a storyboard outline of a television commercial (see CSPAN handout), or an actual videotaped commercial. No matter which kind of ad you decide to make, you must also write a short, one paragraph rationale that explains why you chose the elements that you did (i.e., I used red, white, and blue because I want the American people to know how patriotic I am) What was the specific audience you were targeting? How did you try to reach them? Why do you need their votes? **If you decide to do a negative ad, you may “invent” the candidate that you are running against.**
The Acceptance Speech (50 points)
Congratulations! Your party has OFFICIALLY nominated you to be the next president of the United States. Now, the party convention is underway. Everyone is giving speeches about how incredible of a candidate you are. People in the audience are cheering for you and shouting your name. Tonight, you must take the stage and accept the nomination for president. On this historic night, you will need to do several things in your speech:
- Accept your party’s nomination.
- Thank your party for the nomination. Thank them for believing in you and working to get you where you are.
- Retell the story of how you got to this place in your life. Be creative! Were you a PTA mom that got involved, became mayor, became governor, and then made it to Washington? Or a Harvard grad who became a community organizer on the south side of Chicago? Or a Vietnam Veteran that put his life on the line and survived 5 years as a POW?
- Lay out your thesis. In your own words, tell the American people why you. “You should vote for me on November 4, 2008 because…” In the words of Barack Obama: “It’s time for us to change America and that is why I am running for president of the United States”
- Lay out your reasons. Finish the sentence: “You should vote for me on November 4, 2008 because…”. Each reason should have its own separate paragraph full of examples that support that reason. We will read some speeches in class for more examples.
- Outline your plan for Washington. Be specific. What are you going to do when you get there?
- Conclude your speech. Inspire the people. Convince those that haven’t made up their mind yet. Walk off that stage with a bang!
This speech must be persuasive. As you speak on stage in front of an audience of supporters, you must realize that you are also speaking to an audience of non-supporters sitting in front of their TV’s at home. Your grade will be based on the following criteria:
Clearly organized (use above 7 categories to guide you)
A strong thesis statement
Strong reasons and examples to support your thesis
Excellent use of grammar and conventions
Unique and purposeful wordchoice and sentenceconstruction
Is completed in 2 ½ - 4 pages
Use of persuasivetechniques.
- Figurative language (simile, metaphor, imagery, anaphora, etc.)
- Getting in touch with the emotions of your audience (pathos)
- Establishing yourself as a credible nominee (ethos)
Congratulations, candidate! You are on your way to the White House!
campaignYOU 2008 – Cordes
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