Word: retail
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Every day it's looking more like a recession in the U.S. The December economic numbers (released in January) have been mostly bad: unemployment up, to 5%; retail sales down 0.4%; industrial production flat. The housing market, where all the trouble started, is still in the tank. Banks are reporting big new losses and layoffs. Stock prices are plummeting. Presidential contenders are starting to focus on the economy on the campaign trail. It's ugly out there...
...presidential primary campaign that is quite unlike that provided by any other kind of political event. The earnest coffee mornings in Iowa homes and the packed school gyms in New Hampshire; the air wars - a relentless blitz of TV ads - in megastates such as New York and California; the retail politics as candidates tramp through slush and frozen stubble; the defining moments that summon up memories of campaigns long ago - how come it was OK for Hillary Clinton to tear up in New Hampshire when the same human frailty damned Ed Muskie there in 1972? There is a vitality...
...states that have the earliest primaries each time. Nevertheless, suggestions that Democrats and Republicans should switch to a nationwide primary are misguided. Having all states vote simultaneously would disrupt the small scale of primaries that allows voters a close and detailed perspective on the candidates. In the tradition of retail politics, many voters can meet candidates in person and take time to get to know their positions. Second, the extended schedule allows candidates with relatively little money or national name recognition, such as Huckabee, to gain momentum on the strength of their appeal to voters who have plumbed their positions...
Biden's campaign has been an old-fashioned retail operation, with him and his family blanketing the state. The strategy worked well for Jimmy Carter, who won his term after investing a lot of time shaking hands and answering every question in Iowa. Biden's large extended family, including his mother, siblings, kids and grandkids, have held more than 2,000 events across the state for him. That's compared to the nearly 140 events Obama's wife and sisters have hosted, 40 events held by Clinton family members including husband former President Bill Clinton, and the few dozen campaign...
...something that no other candidate on the Republican side, save perhaps John McCain, has been able to muster this cycle. With the training of a former Baptist pastor, he has an uncanny ability to move an audience, and a real talent for the endless drudgery of person-to-person retail campaigning. It is a talent that he has also used to his advantage with the media...