Campaign Staffers and Political Consultants - Essay Example

The manager would be responsible for any aspect not covered by the candidate and would often be the lead strategist. In larger campaigns, for example, a Presidential campaign, there are a lot of workers in the campaign staff to help with the required tasks. They hire consultants to devise a strategy and the manager simply has to co-ordinate all of the workers and the consultants together. Below the Campaign manager are the departmental directors who look over specific areas of the campaign. Below the departmental level, the campaign staff tends to vary in structure in accordance with the nature of the campaign.

Various coordinators might work under a single department sometimes. For example, within the fundraising department, there might be a staff member who focuses only on direct mail fundraising (Political Campaign Staff, par. 5). The very bottom of the campaign staff structure consists of interns and volunteers who look over the less publicized yet important tasks like data entry, responding to various queries and speaking on behalf of the campaign to a large number of voters. Political consultants do not work for a campaign full-time, but provide help in the shape of advice and creative expertise (Political Campaign Staff, par. . President William McKinley's closest political advisor Mark Hanna is sometimes described as the first political consultant (Wikipedia; Political Consulting, par. 2). The idea of political consulting grew from 1930's onwards as Political Consulting firms emerged and the increased use of television advertising for campaigns gave a big boost to political consulting.

This business has grown rapidly over the years in its importance and influential powers, and has extended itself to campaigns at all government levels. Except for working for political campaigns they also work for political organizations, public relations and research work for companies and governments. These consultants are often criticized for putting their own interests before the clients, have been involved in scandals and some have gone on to become media celebrities after acclaiming wide approval.

The successful political consultant, James Carville comes to mind who took advantage of his fame to become an expert appearing on televisions shows and writing books (Political Consultant, par. 3). Its critics have a point when they claim that financial interests are put ahead of the client when firms take on too many clients to build a reputation. Firms are often accused of transferring campaigns themes and plans to different campaigns, even if the actual context of the political campaign is different from the theme that is transferred!

The American Association of Political Consultants regulates this business and has published code of ethics and gives awards as well. In spite of the criticism, consulting is always an integral part of a successful modern election campaign. Without a consulting firm to advise and strategize a campaign, and a campaign staff to effectively