To be a candidate, you must have energy
A lot of energy.
As an example, I just want you to take a look at the pace most of these candidates maintain in the final push in New Hampshire. And they’ve been doing this since last summer, including a lot of back-and-forth between Iowa and New Hampshire.
Those who stay in the race will keep doing it till Election Day. And that doesn’t even count the preparation before their initial declarations of candidacy. It’s a marathon, but a marathon composed of sprint after sprint after sprint, all day and pretty much every day, for well over a year. Among other things, you pretty much have to love it to stay in the game.
What fuels them (besides doughnuts and coffee)? It’s easy to be cynical and say “narcissism,” and that’s not a bad answer, because obviously there’s some of that (and sometimes a great deal of that). But I think there’s more. The best politicians feed not only on adulation but on crowds and also on interacting with people one on one, something most candidates must do a lot in these two states with very small populations (Iowa has about 3 million people and New Hampshire less than half that).
Obama was apparently an anomaly in that way; he didn’t like it, but did it as a means to an end. For the current GOP crop, I would imagine the ones most naturally interested in doing that sort of thing and having fun with it would be Trump, Christie, and Rubio.
[CLARIFICATION: I didn’t mean Obama didn’t like campaigning in general, particularly the adulation of the crowds. When I wrote that he didn’t like “it,” I meant the “it” to refer to the “interacting with people one on one” part.
Same for “that sort of thing” in that last sentence—it’s meant to refer to “interacting with people one on one.”]
Agreed. Stamina is a must. I am amazed, to be honest, that Trump has so much energy for someone his age. He appears very vital, never tired. Only once did I hear an interview with him where he was slightly hoarse. Impressive.
K-E:
I agree that Trump’s energy is impressive for his age. However, he schedules far fewer appearances than the others. Also, they tend to be large venues, and (although I’m not sure of this part) I don’t think he mingles with crowds much, if at all, either before or after. Nor (as far as I know) does he entertain a lot of questions from the crowd in a town hall format, unlike the others.
In other words, I believe he runs a campaign that very different from the others.
Plus, I don’t know how he travels when it’s local, but he’s got a very fancy private jet.
What fuels them? Heck, I thought the cynics all said amphetamines. In very prudently administered doses, of course.
Whoa, Obama loved campaigning. Obviously there were parts he didn’t care for but, overall – he was in his glory. “Fired up, ready to go”. I was always struck by the extreme contrast between his passion and energy, fire in the belly, when campaigning for himself and the very flat, disinterested, rather be anywhere else demeanor when campaigning for others. Obama never had any coattails for other candidates. He adored being adored. He loved firing up the crowd and talking about how great he was. Getting away from Michelle was just gravy. And then after “the dog caught the car”, our hero had to pretend that he wanted to govern and he was obligated to spend too much time stuck in the WH.
All he ever wanted to do was campaign and then enjoy the perks.
“narcissism,”??
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder in which a person is excessively preoccupied with personal adequacy, power, prestige and vanity, mentally unable to see the destructive damage they are causing to themselves and others. It is a cluster B personality disorder.[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder
KLSmith:
I didn’t mean Obama didn’t like campaigning. He liked the adulation, for sure.
What I was referring to, and perhaps didn’t make clear enough, was the “interacting with people one on one” part of it. Maybe I need to go back and make that clear, because it’s also what I was referring to in that last paragraph.
[…]interacting with people one on one[…]
(cough)Bill Clinton(cough)
And a lot of traveling in Iowa. Not so much driving in NH.
Carly has great energy. She would run circles around Hillary.
neo: Yes, I didn’t think you were just trying to erase it from your memory. Would be nice if the last 7-8 yrs were just a really long nightmare we could wake up from.
I must say: the more I know people, the less I like people. I’d be a horrible campaigner.
On the other hand, if I did the if nominated I will not run, if elected I will not serve platform I might start winning landslides.
Neo – Carson just dropped use of a private jet to save $$, so I think most of the big guys in the polls are using private jets.
Cruz visited all 99 counties in Iowa, yet I don’t see him on the list of ‘energetic’ candidates.
Anyway, we’ll see who can last for the long haul! Iowa and NH are different sorts of states. I know that most of us are used to having almost NO choice in our primaries. So this is a totally different election. I think there is going to be a long fight over the nomination, and it will drag on for awhile. My guess is that it will be 3 or 4 candidates that make it to the end. So much time left to go!
K-E:
I’m not referring to private jets per se. There are private jets, and then there are private jets. Trump’s is a whole ‘nother ball game.
But that’s not really important. My more important point has to do with his lighter schedule of appearances, and the nature of those appearances.
And there is no list of “energetic” candidates. I think I made it clear that they are ALL energetic. If you read the clarification I added several house ago at the end of the post, the list at the end was of those candidates I imagine are really into the one-on-one people-meeting part of campaigning. I don’t think Cruz is bad at that, but I think he’s not quite as fond of it as Christie, for example.
Come to think of it, though, I’m not so sure Trump likes that part, and in fact I’m not so sure he even does much of it. I’ve read he has a germ phobia.
@neo-neocom
I heard that about Trump. I haven’t observed it watching his campaign events. He was happy to hug and smooch Diamond and Silk at two of his meetings. He was also happy to shake hands after speaking to cops in Manchester, NH.
PatD:
Oh, I don’t doubt there are exceptions to the rule. But I think—at least from what I’ve read—that for Trump they are very much exceptions.
IMO Fiorina is an excellent campaigner. She obviously enjoys people and seems to relish answering questions from the crowd. She remains my favorite, too bad she is not in the top 3.
Topical, I guess (just popped up at Insty). Particularly regarding the “bonus” question.
That is, there is a residual element of curiosity in everybody, though that element dominates more in some than in others.
Like any other profession, as you move up the ladder, those without the qualities, skills and attributes to compete at each level are quickly weeded out.
In my own chosen-for-me profession of accounting, you just need to be good with numbers, accurate and detail oriented when you start out. As you go up, you need to be able to understand systems, supervise, then delegate, be a great networker, and then the professions start to run together. You have to be articulate, speak comfortably in front of crowds, make dynamic presentations, grasp the big picture, and lastly be expert at politics. All these take lots of energy; if you don’t have it, others who do will win out.
So it’s not surprising that all really successful politicians have high metabolisms. Even Carson, the least “energetic/frenetic” of this bunch, may actually be the most tireless. He’s used to being woken up by that 3AM call with a life at stake, assembling and directing a great team at short notice, then going 16 hours straight standing up where one tiny slip with a scalpel means death to an innocent.
“To be a candidate, you must have energy. A lot of energy.”
I was just thinking this on Wednesday night when I attended a Marco Rubio town hall at an Irish pub in Dover, NH. It was Rubio’s 4th event of the day and he looked completely… not tired. Fresh, even. Calm and completely in control of his message. His clothes were unrumpled. Stump speech, lots of questions, then he promised to stay as long as anyone still wanted to meet him, one-on-one, with further questions, comments, or just for photos. He was there for hours. Friendly, genuine smile and apparent interest in everyone he met. Same for his lovely wife. I left before he did! … marveling at the kind of people in this world, extroverts I guess, who can sustain this level of social interaction and focus. Especially in winter in NH.