Campaign bus

Last updated

A campaign bus for UKIP UKIP bus.jpg
A campaign bus for UKIP

A campaign bus (battle bus in the UK) is a bus used as both a vehicle and a center of operations during a political campaign, whether for a specific candidate, a political party, or a political cause. A campaign bus can also transport members of the press covering a candidate's campaign. [1] In the UK, they are shared by reporters, political commentators and a politician, usually a party leader, to give them all access to each other as they traverse the country making speeches and other engagements during a general election campaign. In theory, the mutual advantage is that journalists get close access to politicians, and politicians can convey their message more directly to those reporting them. [2] The modern use of campaign buses is often calculated to bring to mind whistle stop train tours that political candidates had historically used to reach large numbers of voters while campaigning by train.

Contents

The use of the campaign bus began at least as early as the 1940s, when The New Republic reported that 1948 presidential contender Thomas E. Dewey was "waylaid... in his campaign bus" by a charmed female admirer who "told him she would vote for him because he was 'so pink and pretty'". [3] John F. Kennedy's "Alliance for Progress" theme was coined on board a campaign bus travelling through Texas in 1960. [4] Candidates may provide interviews to the press or relax on the campaign bus. In 1972, the presidential campaign of Senator Ed Muskie was damaged when a reporter wrote that Muskie's wife, Jane Muskie, "tried to cheer up a campaign bus with the flippant suggestion that everybody swap risque stories". [5]

"Battle buses" were first seen in the UK in the late 1970s. Before that, reporters followed party leaders in separate cars. [2] The battle bus was a significant feature of the 1987 UK general election as David Owen and David Steel of the SDP-Liberal Alliance each crisscrossed the country in matching battle buses, [6] each painted bright yellow. [7] In the 2015 general election, Harriet Harman's Woman to Woman campaign was notable for its bright pink battle bus. [8]

Some buses may have names relating to the general theme of the campaign; John McCain traveled aboard a campaign bus named the "Straight Talk Express" during his 2000 presidential campaign. [9]

U.S. Senator John Edwards campaign bus in 2008 Fighting for One America Bus Tour - Day 2 (1129408285).jpg
U.S. Senator John Edwards campaign bus in 2008

Campaign buses are used in many countries. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known popularly as Lula, used this method of campaigning extensively, and was elected President of Brazil. Over the course of his campaign, "Lula traveled to 350 cities and towns in twenty-three states, in separate campaign bus tours". [10] In the United Kingdom, John Major "adopted the old-fashioned practice of addressing the public from a 'soap box' erected outside his campaign bus". [11] Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas also used a campaign bus to great effect during his 1988 campaign for President of Mexico, which although unsuccessful led to the downfall of single-party rule in Mexico. [12] In Canada party leaders often lease coaches with sides decorated with the party name or their own names. The buses are used to travel between destinations that do not require air travel. Members of the media and other campaign officials may travel along with the party leader.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1988 United States presidential election</span> 51st quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1988 United States presidential election was the 51st quadrennial presidential election held on Tuesday, November 8, 1988. The Republican nominee, incumbent Vice President George H. W. Bush, defeated the Democratic nominee, Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts. It was the first presidential election since 1948, the first time for the Republicans since 1928, and the most recent to date, in which a party won more than two consecutive presidential terms. It remains the most recent election in which a candidate won over 400 electoral votes, and consequently the last landslide election of a U.S. president. Additionally, it was the last time that the Republicans won the popular vote three times in a row, as well as the last time that a non-incumbent Republican won the national popular vote. Conversely, it began an ongoing streak of presidential elections that were decided by a single-digit popular vote margin. It was also the first, and only election to date, in which one of the two major presidential candidates was not of Northern European ancestry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1968 United States presidential election</span> 46th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1968 United States presidential election was the 46th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1968. The Republican nominee, former vice president Richard Nixon, defeated both the Democratic nominee, incumbent vice president Hubert Humphrey, and the American Independent Party nominee, former Alabama governor George Wallace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1972 United States presidential election</span> 47th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1972 United States presidential election was the 47th quadrennial presidential election held on Tuesday, November 7, 1972. Incumbent Republican president Richard Nixon defeated Democratic U.S. senator George McGovern in a landslide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1980 United States presidential election</span> 49th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1980 United States presidential election was the 49th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 1980. The Republican ticket of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush defeated incumbent Democratic president Jimmy Carter and incumbent vice president Walter Mondale in a landslide victory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free Soil Party</span> Precursor to the US Republican Party

The Free Soil Party was a short-lived coalition political party in the United States active from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was largely focused on the single issue of opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Workers' Party (Brazil)</span> Political party in Brazil

The Workers' Party is a centre-left to left-wing political party in Brazil that is currently the country's ruling party. Some scholars classify its ideology in the 21st century as social democracy, with the party shifting from a broadly socialist ideology in the 1990s. Founded in 1980, PT governed at the federal level in a coalition government with several other parties from 1 January 2003 to 31 August 2016. After the 2002 parliamentary election, PT became the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies and the largest in the Federal Senate for the first time. With the highest approval rating in the history of the country, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is PT's most prominent member. Dilma Rousseff, also a member of PT, was elected twice but did not finish her second term due to her impeachment in 2016. The party came back to power with Lula's victory in the 2022 presidential election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Muskie</span> American politician (1914–1996)

Edmund Sixtus Muskie was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 58th United States secretary of state under president Jimmy Carter, a United States senator from Maine from 1959 to 1980, the 64th governor of Maine from 1955 to 1959, and a member of the Maine House of Representatives from 1946 to 1951. He was the Democratic Party's candidate for Vice President of the United States in the 1968 presidential election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harriet Harman</span> British Labour politician

Harriet Ruth Harman is a British politician and solicitor who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Camberwell and Peckham, formerly Peckham, since 1982. A member of the Labour Party, she has served in various Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet positions. Since 29 June 2022 she has been Chair of the House of Commons Privileges Committee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green Party (Brazil)</span> Political party in Brazil

The Green Party is a political party in Brazil. It was constituted after the military dictatorship period and, like other green parties around the world, is committed to establishing a set of policies on ensuring social equity and sustainable development. One of the party's founding members was the journalist and former anti-dictatorship revolutionary Fernando Gabeira, Alfredo Sirkis and Carlos Minc. The founding of the Rio de Janeiro section of the Brazilian Green Party was led by a delegation from the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, composed among others by Olga Maria Carvalho Luz, Luiz Henrique Gevaerd Odebrecht, Marcos Bayer, and Consuelo Luz Lins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brazilian Social Democracy Party</span> Political party in Brazil

The Brazilian Social Democracy Party, also known as the Brazilian Social Democratic Party or the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy, is a political party in Brazil. As the third largest party in the National Congress, the PSDB was the main opposition party against the Workers' Party (PT) administrations of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff from 2003 to 2016.

<i>Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 72</i> Book by Hunter S. Thompson

Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 is a 1973 book that recounts and analyzes the 1972 presidential campaign in which Richard Nixon was re-elected President of the United States. Written by Hunter S. Thompson and illustrated by Ralph Steadman, the book was largely derived from articles serialized in Rolling Stone throughout 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geraldo Alckmin</span> Vice president of Brazil

Geraldo José Rodrigues Alckmin Filho is a Brazilian physician and politician who has served as the 26th vice president of Brazil since 1 January 2023. He previously served as the Governor of São Paulo from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2011 to 2018, the longest term served in that state since the end of the Military dictatorship in Brazil. He was the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) presidential nominee for the 2018 Brazilian presidential election, when he finished in fourth place, as well for the 2006 Brazilian presidential election, when he came in second place, losing in the runoff to then president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1972 Democratic Party presidential primaries</span> Selection of the Democratic Party nominee

From January 24 to June 20, 1972, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 1972 United States presidential election. Senator George McGovern of South Dakota was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections, caucuses, and state party conventions, culminating in the 1972 Democratic National Convention held from July 10 to July 13, 1972, in Miami, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pink tide</span> 21st century success of left-leaning Latin American leaders

The pink tide, or the turn to the left, is a political wave and perception of a turn towards left-wing governments in Latin American democracies moving away from the neoliberal economic model in the 21st century. As a term, both phrases are used in 21st-century political analysis in the news media and elsewhere to refer to a move toward more economic progressive or social progressive policies in Latin America. Such governments have been referred to as "left-of-centre", "left-leaning", and "radical social-democratic". They are also members of the São Paulo Forum, a conference of left-wing political parties and other organizations from the Americas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1998 Brazilian general election</span>

General elections were held in Brazil on 4 October 1998 to elect the President, National Congress and state governorships. If no candidate in the presidential election received more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a second-round runoff would have been held on 25 October. The election saw voting machines used for the first time in Brazilian history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2002 Brazilian general election</span>

General elections were held in Brazil on 6 October 2002, with a second round of the presidential election on 27 October. The elections were held in the midst of an economic crisis that began in the second term of the incumbent president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso of the centre-right Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB). Due to constitutional term limits, Cardoso was ineligible to run for a third consecutive term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1994 Brazilian general election</span>

General elections were held in Brazil on October 3, 1994, the second to take place under the provisions of the 1988 constitution and the second direct presidential election since 1960.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conservative wave</span> Political phenomenon in Latin America

The conservative wave, or blue tide, was a right-wing political phenomenon that occurred in the mid-2010s to the early 2020s in Latin America as a direct reaction to the pink tide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carla Denyer</span> Co-Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales

Carla Suzanne Denyer is a British politician who has served as co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales alongside Adrian Ramsay since 1 October 2021. She has been a city councillor in Bristol since 2015. She is also noted for her lead role in bringing about Bristol City Council's declaration of a climate emergency in 2018, which was the first in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woman to Woman (campaign)</span> Election campaign in the United Kingdom in 2015

Woman to Woman, known in the media as Harriet Harman's Pink Bus, was a political campaign in the United Kingdom for the Labour Party at the 2015 general election. It was led by Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Harriet Harman, and involved a pink battle bus visiting marginal constituencies, promoting Labour policies and rallying support among female voters. It was described by Labour as the party's "biggest ever women's campaign". The Pink Bus was criticised in the media as "sexist and patronising".

References

  1. ↑ Howard R. Ernst, Larry Sabato, Encyclopedia of American Political Parties and Elections (2007), p. 220.
  2. 1 2 Wheeler, Brian (22 December 2004). "Last stop for the battle bus?". BBC. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
  3. ↑ Herbert David Croly, The New Republic (1948), p. 10.
  4. ↑ Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House (1965), p. 193.
  5. ↑ "To Jane Muskie, primaries are no joke", LIFE (12 May 1972), p. 81.
  6. ↑ "1987 General Election". BBC. Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
  7. ↑ "1987 General Election". BBC. Archived from the original on 16 March 2003. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
  8. ↑ "Labour defends use of pink minibus in women's campaign". BBC News. 10 February 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
  9. ↑ James W. Johnson, Arizona Politicians: The Noble and the Notorious, (2002), p. 16.
  10. ↑ Richard Bourne, Lula of Brazil: The Story So Far (2008).
  11. ↑ Brian McNair, An Introduction to Political Communication (2011), p. 135.
  12. ↑ Dan La Botz, Democracy in Mexico: peasant rebellion and political reform (1995), p. 83.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.