In this podcast, I look at the victory speeches for Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee. I also play clips from the victory speeches and look at what each speaker wanted to do with their speech.
Both use very similar language: change, hope, lifting people instead of the left and the right. But their respective speaking styles could not be more different.
Both candidates want to stress that they embody the change that voters want. Last night, people really started to pay attention to the 2008 Presidential race and these two candidates spoke to very large audiences at home. Their goal was to deliver that message of change and direction of their party, Democratic and Republican. Both effective styles, but different styles.
I also previewed the series of "debates" over the weekend in New Hampshire.
Not really debates but we'll call them that. For the Republicans, Huckabee has an easier road because no one expects him to win New Hampshire. But a slip up like what we've seen in press conferences, etc. could possibly hurt in South Carolina. But he's been pretty good at the debates with his speaking style.
Person with the most to gain: McCain. A good performances can win him New Hampshire and make him the alternative to Huckabee.
Person with the most to lose: Romney. Tied with McCain in the last New Hampshire poll, a bad performance could mean a loss, but signal the end of his campaign.
Democrats: Person with the most to lose: Obama, not even close. He could stall all of his momentum with a subpar debate performance. Remember, he really doesn't like these types of debates and it shows. It's the one area of the campaign where he just doesn't look comfortable. He better get comfortable because it is what probably cost Gore the White House in 2000. Bad debate performances now could reinforce the “not ready for primetime" that the Clintons are going to be pushing to try and save her candidacy. A decent performance will probably give him New Hampshire and cripple the Clinton campaign.
Person with the most to gain: Clinton. She has a small lead in New Hampshire, at least before Iowa. She has had one minor slip in the debates, but mostly she has been very, very good in the debates. We'll talk about Clinton in later podcasts (as far as speaking style), but her debates have been solid. A good performance can level the playing field and turn South Carolina into a real battleground in two weeks.
We'll be back on Monday with a review of the debates and Wednesday with a review of victory speeches in New Hampshire.
