Blog 9: Press Coverage

As I have recently been watching The Newsroom, I've seen how political stories are found, transformed and reported. Applying what has been seen in the show and with our political candidates,  Rand Paul is not great at generating news, and whoever the culprits are the run his Twitter feed are garbage. I've seen countless times people Tweeting at him and either not getting a response, automated reply, or if there were a reply, it pertaining absolutely nothing to the question. And my God do his twitter handlers tweet far too much. Obviously that's only one example, but ever since he stated that he was running for president, his news/media coverage has seemed to go way down hill.

I do not watch much news during the day, but regularly check media outlets throughout the day. From my personal experience, Rand seems to be lost amongst other candidates that have a higher presence, mainly Clinton. And it's not just Twitter. I have seen some candidates get Geotags on snapchat, and have heard of some candidates having snapchat.  It could be the fact of the hype surrounding her, but even if she wasn't running I feel that Rand would still be the underdog. It's almost as if the country sees Rand as an underdog, with the exception of Kentucky. IF and only if Rand has a chance, he is going to need a better way to market himself and his campaign.

I don't know exactly what Rand can do to separate himself from other Republican candidates, but he is definitely going to need to change his plan of attack if he is serious about becoming President of the United States. If it were me, I'd change my presence on social media. Obviously it's one of the most crucial parts of connecting with voters, but there is a right way and a wrong way to do social media, and I think Rand is doing it the wrong way. Informing voters is crucial, but bantering and the lack or excess of an outlet are not a tactic in winning.

Blog 8: Media Bias

Rand Paul has been known as an individual to speak his mind, no matter the context or setting. This particular "incident" happened a few days ago on "Today." Savannah Guthrie was the host interviewing Rand and was asking him several questions in a row. He was not able to give an answer, making him rather angry until he finally stopped Savannah and told her to "why don't we let me explain, instead of talking over me."

The story titles between CNN and Fox News are rather comical. CNN says that Rand "Scolded Savannah," whereas Fox News says that there was "Testiness" on Today between Rand and Savannah. Due to media bias, I would say that CNN was far more harsh in their title on Rand than Fox News was. Was it due to party affiliation and media bias? No telling, but Fox News certainly covered Rand far more than CNN. In fact, CNN covered twice as Hillary Clinton topics than Fox did, and Fox covered more Rand and Rubio than CNN.

The next part, CNN took Rand being short with Savannah as him being sexist seeing as how he's had a "temper," or "problems" with female reporters in the past. CNN started out with that being the main concern, then talking about different political ideologies after. Fox News was the exact opposite. Fox news devoted 3/4 of the article to political differences, and left a remaining paragraph or two to Rand having gender problems.

Depending on which media outlet you saw this story on first could definitely define your outlook on the story, and on Rand to a certain degree. I must say, CNN definitely made the situation and Rand far worse than it really was. CNN shined a negative light on this story. Links to both articles/videos are below.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/08/media/rand-paul-savannah-guthrie/index.html

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/04/09/testiness-at-today-why-rand-paul-lectured-savannah-guthrie/

Coms 307 Blog 7: Media, Pop Culture & Politics

I have viewed Rand Paul as a pretty exciting guy. However, Jon Stewart and J.C. Watts, the Republican that introduced him as a potential candidate clearly think Rand is the most bland person to walk the face of the earth. The only person that seemed rather excited was his wife, whom also introduced him in Louisville the night that he formally announced his candidacy. The main concern of this clip is the duration that it took before the announcement was made; speakers, videos, National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance, etc. After watching the replay, watch grass grow would've been more pleasing. Jon Stewart does a great job mocking the entire ordeal.

Rand's announcement was both courageous and valid. I believe if he is elected it could be a fresh face with fresh ideas, considering his libertarian upbringing and his displeasure with the current state of our country. 

I am all for Rand running for President. However I usually am stricken with skepticism and this particular incident embodies proof: Rand attended Duke for both undergraduate and medical school, therefore them winning the 2015 NCAA Men's Championship is his sole reason for running for President. That is the only logical explanation at this time...

Here is the video of Rand Paul's announcement being bashed by Jon Stewart

http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/qn3fj6/legends-of-the-stall

Rand Paul Polls

Speculations on the 2016 election have Bush and Clinton favored heavily, but Rand Paul is not far behind. He certainly does not have any "mountains to climb," but he does have some people in his way if he wants to go to the 'ship. 

I tend to view Presidential Elections similar as I see March Madness. Clearly you've got the top schools (Bush, Clinton), then come all the mid-majors, such as Paul, Rice, Christie, Rubio, and Cruz. They are the "anything goes" teams, or they'll do anything to win, whereas Bush and Clinton have the dynasty factor backing their game. Tournament, like the election has upsets each round, and right now is all talk and speculation of what could happen. 

According to Real Clear Politics, Clinton is the heavy favorite, but in the general election, Paul puts up quite the fight against Clinton, but comes up short in the end (47-41). On polling site 270 To Win, Clinton is still the heavy favorite, but once again, Paul is not far behind. Nearly all polls I came across are predicting a Bush-Clinton election, but then again it is still early to tell, right now they are just the favored front-runners.

Basically from what I've gathered from the early polls and speculations is that Rand Paul still has a fighting chance. Walker and Bush are leading the race, but Paul is not far behind nipping at their heels. Needless to say there is plenty of work to be done to separate himself, but polls have high hopes for my man, Rand. 

Rand's Political Language

Education is a major issue for Senator Paul and he understands that America is working on improving our education system. But at what cost? Brownback thinks cutting funds is the answer for a stronger education, but Rand thinks the opposite (thank God). On his website, he makes it very clear what is his stance is on education. 

Rand believes the federal government is too "overreaching" and controlling when it comes to education. Instead, he is focusing on bringing education to a more state/local level, letting parents and teachers focus on what their community needs as opposed to the federal government telling each state what they need to do to improve on education. 

Rand is trying to focus on our nation's youth to reach out to new voters- after all, the youths are the ones that will be in charge of our country and if they lack proper education, then our country will be in worse shape than it is now. Rand states, "education is the greatest gift a parent can give their child." With that being said, he is reaching out to not only wealthy voters than can afford quality education for their children, but as well as connecting with less fortunate voters whom wish their children can still have quality with the governments help. By enlisting more power at the state level, he is ensuring if he is elected that every child will have the opportunity to obtain a quality education in this vapid environment. His use of "I" instead of "we" insists that HE is the one going to make the changes that "we" couldn't pull through

If you missed the hyperlink, here is the source

http://www.paul.senate.gov/?p=issue&id=9

Ryne Laster Blog #3

Rand Paul uses all forms of social media- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even SnapChat to connect with his voters, friends, followers, groupies, haters, or whatever you would like to call this herd. Fortunately, his SnapChat is rather entertaining as I began following him a few days ago. I have pasted the URL's to each of his accounts below for anyone that desires following this potential candidate. All of these accounts are verified by the social media companies, signifying that it is indeed Rand. On the other hand, there are always funny fake accounts that people make up, Rand having a few of his own.

• @senatorrandpaul(Instagram)
• @senatorrandpaul(Snapchat)
• @senrandpaul(Twitter)

Oddly enough, he does not have nearly as many followers as I expected, especially on Instagram- Not even 8 thousand! Thankfully his picture with he and his family outside of Rupp Arena, where University of Kentucky plays basketball, sufficiently lacked in the "like" category. Needless to say his presence on instagram is not as vital as on Facebook and Twitter due to the amount of traffic those two outlets see. 

Rand's Facebook account is his strongest social media outlet, followed by Twitter, then Instagram and SnapChat back with the caboose. This shouldn't be a surprise for any candidate, and his posts usually consist of how he disagrees with President Obama, or a picture of himself with a quote he said about labor or immigration laws. His pictures incorporate his passion for American Politics and Americana in general. Which is always nice to see. They certainly encompass a personal and involvement side, but as a perspective as a potential voter, his social media needs to "connect with the people" more. That should be Rand's media team priority for 2016 instead of bashing what can't be immediately fixed with Union dues and immigration reform. However around christmas time Rand made E-cards for all his supporters in each of the fifty states- which was a nice gesture, of course. 

In my opinion the best way for Rand to reach out to new followers would be to link all of his accounts together, and advertise his whereabouts multiple times in advance, and as time gets nearer to reiterate where he will be, along with live-tweeting certain events he is participating in.