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Posted by Kate Butler Mar 19, 2007 |
Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd announced that he was “here to announce he was here” on the Daily Show this past week. This seemingly pithy claim was met with good cheer as there has been the extreme caution affecting presidential candidates has reached a new level. Host Jon Stewart played along with Dodd’s announcement and kept his questioning to a rather superficial level.
Many politicians interested in a 2008 White House bid have established their own ‘presidential exploratory committees’ in the last few months. The idea behind these committees, and the subsequent announcements after the committees have reached some sort of conclusion, is that by announcing that you are even thinking about running guarantees press coverage.
With a field of presidential hopefuls that seems to be getting more crowded by the day, the ability to get any attention from the media is seen as key. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain have all engaged in long-drawn out affairs with the press and public regarding their intentions for 2008.
The idea that one must establish a committee to look into the idea of running for president before declaring one’s intentions is decidedly new. Prior to this current trend, the thinking was that it was better to declare early, as this could lead to the coveted ‘front runner’ status.
Dodd’s appearance on the Daily Show was unusual not just for the statement that he was ‘here’, but also because his staffers and him blogged the entire event. On the next night, Stewart discussed Dodd’s website, thereby furthering the television-to-web-to-television cycle that the Senator had started.