Former RNC chair lectures on politics

In an eye-opening presentation yesterday to Communications Professor Amy Jordan's "Introduction to Communication Behavior" class, former Republican National Committee chairperson Frank Fahrenkopf discussed the last several presidential campaigns. Fahrenkopf, who served as co-chairperson of the Commission on Presidential Debates and is currently the president of the American Gaming Association, lectured as part of the Annenberg Public Policy Center Forum Series. He served as chairperson during former President Reagan's administration. Noting that American politics "breaks the general rule of most politics anywhere in the world," Fahrenkopf discussed many aspects of presidential campaigns -- including marketing strategies, campaign reform, restructuring debate formats and reasons for voter apathy. He explained that winning a campaign is a "numbers game." Since the United States has 538 electoral votes, a candidate needs only 270 votes for victory. "We live, breathe and eat this number? 270 is the magic number," he said. "In 1984, Ronald Reagan ran up 525 electoral votes? Fritz Mondale still got 41 percent of the popular vote." College sophomore Shelley Gershoni noted that Fahrenkopf's analysis of how presidential candidates win elections "had a lot of great political insight." "The debriefings are really great for the students -- you get such a better feel for how the system operates," she added. Fahrenkopf also said strategizing begins long before a candidate is officially nominated. He explained that "targeting" is the key. In the campaigns he worked on, he focused on winning 25 states -- for a total of 362 electoral votes. "We didn't give a damn about [the other 25 states and D.C.]," he said. "The real decision is made by the 20 percent of the people in the target states who are in the middle." But campaign strategies in 1992 were not as successful as those in the three previous campaigns -- all of which Fahrenkopf coordinated. He analyzed why former President Bush -- the presidential incumbent who had an 88 percent approval rating after the Persian Gulf War -- lost the 1992 election. "Incompetence and arrogance happened in 1992," Fahrenkopf said. "They didn't prepare." Fahrenkopf also noted similar problems in former Sen. Bob Dole's campaign last November. He explained that Dole did not even start off at the usual base rate of 40 percent and "spent the whole campaign getting back to 40." Focusing on the next election, Fahrenkopf warned that Al Gore is not a shoe-in for president. "It's as wide-open as it's ever been," he said. He added that there are several potentially strong Democratic and Republican candidates but Colin Powell is "the big unknown." "The decision won't be made by Colin Powell -- it will be made by Alma Powell," he said. Presidential debates -- one of Fahrenkopf's areas of expertise -- have long been instrumental in elections. Although the American public likes the town-hall debates, the politicians prefer other formats. In future elections, Fahrenkopf said the candidates will be more likely to "go at each other." He added that there should also be a debate in a round-table discussion format. Following the presentation, several students commented that Fahrenkopf's thoughts gave a new perspective to American politics. "It was interesting because I'm not from the states," College freshman Jumin Kim said. "He was pretty natural and he had a decent sense of humor too."