Introduction
Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign was launched in April 2015. She notified the public on her campaign website by stating that “I’m running for president”. She proclaimed herself a champion and stated that “Everyday Americans need a champion”. The mission statement provided by Clinton’s campaign is “We are a team, and this is about Americans”. Heading her campaign as chair is John Podesta, a former Whitehouse Chief of Staff. Campaign manager, Robby Mook, has been a long time Democratic player. Chief strategist and pollster is Joel Benenson who will have support from two other pollsters, John Anzalone and David Binder. Jim Margolis is the media adviser. Tony Carrk is in charge of direct research, and Marlon Marshall handles state campaigns and political engagements. Clinton’s communication director is Jennifer Palmieri while Charlie Baker is chief administrative officer. Along with many others, these are the leaders and employees of the Clinton campaign. Clinton has also engaged her husband, former President Bill Clinton to assist in her campaign.
The overall budget initially set for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign was $2.5 billion.
PR Campaign
Research
Currently, Hillary Clinton’s campaign is winning the presidential campaign as indicated today in polls.
Even with the pressure and challenges being presented by the media attention being given to the emails she sent as Secretary of State. Capturing the name of “email scandal”, the issue has presented many uphill battles in Hillary’s campaign. Clinton used her private email account while servicing as the Secretary of State. Hillary Clinton is accused of using her private email address to conduct business during from 2009 to 2013 while she served in a highly classified job as Secretary of State (Carroll, 2016). The issue is that even though the email domain she used was private, it was not protected from being hacked as it was housed on her own private servers located in her home in Chappaqua, New York (Carroll, 2016).
Action
Hillary Clinton hopes to reduce the negative publicity surrounding the email scandal. Her objective is to sustain a lead in the polls and win the presidential election. In order to accomplish her goals pertaining to the issue of the email scandal, Clinton must address all Americans and in particular American voters.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign team and Clinton herself has spent a lot of time addressing the email scandal. Clinton and her campaign have responded almost immediately to stories that have they have deemed untrue concerning the emails. On many occasion while appearing on various media forums, Clinton addressed the emails and explains her side of the story. According to Clinton, she only set up her emails in that way for convenience purposes, so she is not retrieving emails from numerous sources or devices. At the same time, research conducted proved that she might have done this to protect her privacy (Carroll, 2016).
Communication
Hillary Clinton has made several public announcements concerning the emails through the use of media outlets. Clinton’s tactic to lessen the negative impact concerning the email scandal has been address the issue directly. She has consistently sought to calm the fervor by stating that she complied with the rules. She also appeals to Americans with her explanation that she did not want her personal emails to be made public, which would have occurred had she allowed for the release of all her emails. Another explanation that she has used is that she did not want to carry two devices for communicating via email, so she used her personal account for all communications.
Evaluation
The success of Clinton’s campaign and her attempt to reduce the damage from the email scandal will not be determined until November when the elections are complete. It appears as though Clinton is successfully addressing the email scandal. There is still a tremendous amount of negative news coverage concerning the issue, so it is important that she continues to face the issue and explain her rationale for her behavior.
Conclusion
Hilary Clinton launched her presidential campaign in April 2015, intending to be the first woman President of the United States of America. Claiming herself a champion, she urged the American voters to elect a champion. Her campaign leaders and staff included chairs, managers, strategists and advisers, each with the intent of winning Hillary the presidential seat. The budget set for the campaign was over two billion dollars. The polls fluctuated for Clinton and she at times struggled to defeat other Democratic contenders. Yet, she was able to obtain the democratic nomination. Amidst this excitement, Clinton has faced a major issue. All over the American newspapers, even before announcing her bid for presidency were allegations of her engagement in a scandal. The scandal concerned emails she had sent while serving as the Secretary of State. Clinton has spent considerable time addressing this issue in order to de-escalate the seriousness and to take the negative connotations of the scandal away from her hopefulness to become the next president. Clinton and her campaign team have engaged in article writing for news columns as well as specific press appearances to address the issue. Clinton has also made a point to remain transparent regarding the issue in an attempt to minimize the negative impact. When presented with the opportunity, Clinton has presented reasons for her actions that appeal to the common sense, logic and emotions of Americans. At this point in time, it is not clear if Clinton has been successful in her campaign for president, nor is it clear to what extent the emails have swayed American voters. However, as of recent, Clinton is ahead in the polls.
References
Carroll, L. (2016, Jully 19). PolitiFact Sheet: Hillary Clinton's email controversy. Retrieved from PolitiFact: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/jul/19/politifact-sheet-hillary-clintons-email-controvers/
Chozick, A., & Schmidt, M. S. (2015, March 10). Hillary Clinton Tries to Quell Controversy Over Private Email. Retrieved from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/11/us/hillary-clinton-email.html
Election 2016 Presidential Polls. (2016, August 10). Retrieved from Real Clear Politics: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/president/
Glueck, K. (2015, April 12). The power players behind Hillary Clinton's Campaign. Retrieved from Politico: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/hillary-clintons-power-players-116874
Haberman, M. (2015, April 11). With Hillary for America Memo, a Campaign Sets Its Mission. Retrieved from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/04/11/with-hillary-for-america-memo-a-campaign-sets-its-mission/
Lavender, P. (2015, April 13). Hillary Clinton Launches 2016 Presidential Campaign. Retrieved from The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/12/hillary-clinton-2016_n_6134814.html
