Stephanie Corbin

Just the Money, Please
June 9, 2008

Politics are always a hot-button topic during a presidential election year, and it’s one that trickles over to every industry.

Tradeshows are no different. Candidates have the opportunity to use tradeshow appearances to speak to certain industry sectors and make those personal connections to voters that have been so important in the past few races.

My perception has been that the campaigns, while obviously overworked trying to win a presidential race, are working to show that every vote counts – even having candidate appearances in the smallest towns and cities, including a city I used to live in, New Philadelphia, Ohio. In 2004, President Bush stopped in to buy candy from a local shop; John Edwards, then a vice presidential candidate, held a rally.

So I was a little surprised when I recently wrote a story about U.S. Sen. John McCain speaking at the Natl. Restaurant Assn. Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show in Chicago as a “next step” story to one I wrote last year about presidential primary candidates speaking at shows. I requested comment from Sens. McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton – the latter two had been invited but were unable to attend – because I wanted to know (and share with TSW readers) how important tradeshows are to campaign strategies, what benefits candidates get from the speeches, how they pick the shows they speak at and whether we’ll see similar appearances as the election draws closer.

None of the candidates’ campaigns called me back.

That wasn’t a surprise. They did have presidential campaigns to run.

However, I have heard from one of them … continuously. Obama’s campaign sends me e-mails several times each day now to request I contribute $25, work his phone banks or pledge my support online.

Posted by Stephanie Corbin on June 9, 2008 | Comments (0)