Mornings that start at 5 a.m. in the Midwest and nights that end past midnight in the South. Constant travel. A day off here or there — if the next stop is across the country and if there’s an overnight flight on a private jet.
That’s the stressful, chaotic life of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill..) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and their entire campaign staffs as they campaign for the presidency. The election is Nov. 4. and the candidates have miles and months to go.
A presidential campaign is an exhaustive process, says political science professor Grant Reeher at Syracuse University. “They’re up at the crack of dawn until late at night,” Reeher said. “It’s pretty grueling work — having to do a lot of public speaking, thinking on your feet and using your brain all day. You’re not eating well, not getting regular exercise.”
Here’s another example: In New Hampshire, the day before primary on Jan. 8, Democrat John Edwards went on a 36-hour marathon speaking tour.
The exhaustion that can arise from a schedule like that, isn’t anything too new, political scientist Reeher says.
“There’s been a long history of this as an issue in presidents’ campaigns,” he said, “particularly those in the recent era, since in the 1950s. It’s an exhausting process.”
Back in 1960, campaign stress reached an extreme level during Richard Nixon’s first presidential run. “He had dedicated himself to going to all 50 states, which, from a political standpoint, was not very smart,” Reeher said. “You don’t want to spend a lot of time in small states that aren’t going to give you a lot of electoral votes.”
Nixon lost the election to John F. Kennedy.
At a diner in Scranton, Pa., recently, the usually mild-mannered Obama, for example, snapped at a reporter who asked a question about foreign policy as Obama tried to eat breakfast.
“Why can’t I just eat my waffle?” Obama asked. The half-waffle was even auctioned off on eBay, according to an ABC news blog.
Obama’s short-tempered question and the waffle auction are signs of the times. The technology explosion has turned the into more TV—and now the Web — to bring the public’s attention to every aspect.
“It’s exhausting just for citizens to watch it,” said SU political scientist Reeher, “let alone a presidential candidate to live it.”
(Melissa Daniels is a junior newspaper journalism major.)
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