Television Candidates vs. Reality

By: Mackenzie Ferguson

Seeing a political figure in person rather than on television is a weird mix of awe, comparison, and awareness. Today we went to see Elizabeth Warren and Julián Castro in Marshalltown, Iowa. Going into the rally I was expecting Warren to be unrelatable and to feel rehearsed, based on the previous candidates that we have heard speak, however, I was shocked by the weight and presence of Warren’s personality in person compared to on television. Warren throughout the rally remained personable, energetic, and held a certain passion in her voice that helped to excite the crowd around her ideas. After a short introduction into her background, she preceded to take questions from random audience members in the crowd and was able to weave her policy stances into each unplanned question with grace and of course more enthusiasm. Once the rally was over, Warren and Castro had a “selfie line” in which the audience members were able to take a photo with the candidate and be able to meet her in person, which made her more personable and seemed to make her seem like an actual human rather than a political television character. Castro himself also made himself seem personable, as he greeted us and talked to us when we ran into him at a Mexican restaurant after the rally.

In comparison to the Warren rally that we attended, yesterday we attended a Bernie Sanders rally in Newton, Iowa. The energy and the mood around the Bernie rally seemed extremely different compared to the Warren rally. Bernie himself was his usual hunched over version that you see on the television, however, he seemed older, more tired, and more fragile in person than he does on the television screen. Sanders seemed to shuffle around the rally stage and seemed to rehearse a speech that he has done several times with little enthusiasm and energy put into his speech. I was sitting behind Bernie Sanders at his rally and I still had a hard time paying attention to his monotone speech. The crowd was also not as excited by Bernie as they were at the Warren rally and Bernie himself seemed less personable. At the end of the rally, Bernie rushed away, presumably to another campaign event, but he was not able to spend time with those who had attended his rally. After all of this, Bernie seemed to remain as a television character to me: not personable, rehearsed, fragile, and unenergetic.

Comparing these two candidates and their rallies shows the difference in personalities that the candidates possess, as well as the difference in strategies that the campaigns are taking in order to try to win the Democrat nomination. While I had previously mentioned in my past blog post that I was unsure of the political engagement of the citizens of Iowa, these rallies have helped to show me the dedication of the Iowa citizens who attend several rallies to hear and choose between which candidate is best for them. The excitement for these candidates is shown by the citizens during the rallies, and I wish that every state had the same opportunities to engage with the candidates in the same manor that Iowa citizens get to. There is a difference between the television version of the candidates and seeing the candidates themselves, and this difference has helped me to make a decision that several Americans will be facing as the upcoming caucuses and primaries approach.