Jim Rutledge Campaign 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifd-uK8eauA

I have chosen to look at Jim Rutledge, he was a candidate for the 2010 mid-term Senate elections, he ran as a Republican nomination to represent the state of Maryland. Although he did not win the election this November, I chose to look at his campaign video in particular because I thought his stance was the most interesting. His video starts off by saying that he grew up on a farm in Maryland, already representing that idea of the American Dream and making your own life for yourself. Then he goes on to say that he "persued his dream' of becoming an attorney and that he has his own law practice in a small 'cow town' which shows that he has made something of himself but he still lives in a small town in his home county. He also mentions that he has been married for twenty six years and has two children, this is the perfect image for a candidate, showing that he is dedicated to his family and family values, having been married for so long.


Already in the first forty seconds he has listed everything that he thinks makes him the perfect candidate, all the aspects of his life he feels the public can relate to. He then goes on to talk about why he is running, by briefly listing the issues he views most important at this time. For example, he lists about the expansion of federal government power, the nation's debt, unemployment and the threat to individual liberties. At this point the style of his campaign interview has remained the same, a simple outreach to the people, showing what he stands for and the issues he is most interested in looking at. However, the style of the interview changes when he suddenly talks about his competitor Barbara Mikulski, who has been senator of Maryland for thirty four years. He believes that is "too long for anyone" and goes on to say that he believes "the career politicians are ruining what has made American great and are going to destroy opportunities for regular folks all across the state of Maryland. That is why I'm running". By relating himself to what he calls 'the regular folks' he is perceiving himself as one of them, just a regular guy and not a politician. He believes that it is Barbara Mikulski that has created all the problems he lists over the last thirty four years and believes he can help fix the problem for the state of Maryland. He talks about how he has gone all over the state and spoken to the people asking about their concerns and listened to them, then he goes on to say how he proposes to fix these problems.


The campaign interview is very formal yet relaxed, the interviewer allows him to say why he is a suitable candidate and what he can do for the people of the state of Maryland. However, the interviewer does mention proposals made by another candidate and asks Jim Rutledge to show his views on the issue and what he proposes to do instead.