It’s September in Leap Year and that means we’re in the midst of yet another closely contested Presidential campaign in these United States. So here at TakePart we thought it might be a good time to take a look back through the years to the most pivotal and memorable campaign moments to grace the small screen since the inception of television as a mass medium.

They’re not all deep, indeed some of them are downright petty. Some highlight an age in American politics where a quick dig, an easily accessible narrative or simply the impression conveyed by bits of picture and audio substituted for an honest dialogue with the public about the governmental and economic forces which shape their lives. Others show truly thought provoking moments that blend medium and message seamlessly without degrading either.   So here they are…for better or worse…your TakePart Top 10 Presidential Campaign Moment of the Television Age!

10. 1980 Jimmy Carter - Ronald Reagan Debate - “There you go again…”

The 1980 Presidential race between incumbent Jimmy Carter and California Governor Ronald Reagan marked a turning point in politics in this country. It also bears many similarities to the race now at hand between Barack Obama and John McCain in terms of the issues at play, notably energy, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East and healthcare. In this moment, Reagan gave a glimpse of the next 28 years of medical care following his election in his dismissive, waving off “There you go again” response to Jimmy Carter bringing up the issue of health coverage for American citizens. An issue that has only gotten progressively worse to this day.

9. 2000 George W. Bush - Al Gore Debate - “The Sighs”

It’s safe to say that virtually any factor in play could have changed the result of the 2000 Presidential election - the lack of hanging chads in Palm Beach County, an absence of voter suppression in predominantly African-American areas, a Supreme Court with the integrity to make the right decision. But Al Gore also certainly did himself no favors with the forced, theatrical-sounding sighs he extolled during his first debate with George W. Bush, sent up by Jon Stewart and The Daily Show in the clip below.

8.  1988 Republican National Convention - George H.W. Bush “Read my lips, no new taxes.”

This famous clip of a promise Papa Bush just couldn’t end up keeping isn’t a classic because of the effect it had on the 1988 campaign, when it was uttered, but rather on how it helped doom the elder Bush in his 1992 run versus Bill Clinton and Ross Perot.   Bush Sr. desperately needed to prove himself to be the real McCoy to the Conservative wing in his party, who under no circumstances would allow a tax hike.   But the trouble was essentially the same as the one Republicans face today with the Federal Budget: programs cost  money and cutting too many of them is political suicide.   After defeating Michael Dukakis, Bush Sr. would indeed raise taxes down the road in a financially prudent move to try to alleviate some of the massive debt the GOP was running up, but some in his party never forgave him and it ended up haunting him in his loss to Bill Clinton in November of ‘92.

7.  1988 Lloyd Bentsen - Dan Quayle Vice Presidential Debate - “You’re no Jack Kennedy.”

The next moment could be fairly characterized as downright petty…or great political theater, depending on which way you look at it.   Trying to answer a question about experience that has often been asked in this year’s contest, Republican VP candidate Dan Quayle compares himself to John F. Kennedy in his amount of time in public service, setting himself up for a timeless rebuke from opponent Lloyd Bentsen.   Check out the look on Bentsen’s face and his shake of the head right after Quayle invokes Kennedy’s name.

6.  1988 Willie Horton Campaign Advertisement

In the 1988 race between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis political advertisements hit a new low with Bush’s campaign strategist Lee Atwater’s infamous Willie Horton advertisement.   Horton was a criminal in the Massachusetts State Prison System while Dukakis was Governor of the state.   While on leave on a furlough program Dukakis had supported, Horton kidnapped, raped and murdered a white couple.   Bush relentlessly drilled Dukakis throughout the campaign on the chain of events, mercilessly playing on fears of race and crime in the electorate.

5.  2004 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth Campaign Advertisement

What Willie Horton did for Bush Sr. sixteen years earlier, the Swift Boat Veterans did for his son by smearing war hero John Kerry’s distinguished record of service in Vietnam.   Kerry ran afoul of many of his fellow veterans however by speaking out, loudly, against American aggression in Southeast Asia at the tail end of the conflict.   Many never forgave him and resurfaced during his Presidential bid to effectively prevent him from taking the White House.

4.  2008 Barack Obama “A More Perfect Union” Speech

On the verge of being Swiftboated himself in the grueling 2008 Democratic primary, Barack Obama threw caution to the wind and brought up a subject he’d been avoiding throughout the campaign: Race.   With the Reverend Jeremiah Wright videos threatening to destroy the tenuous position Obama had staked out as an African-American candidate to whom race was not a central issue, Obama took the subject by the horns in a moving speech viewed by millions that effectively diffused the issue.

3.  1992 George H.W. Bush - Bill Clinton - Ross Perot Debate Audience Q&A

The number 3 selection is a Q&A I found particularly moving from a three way debate between Bush Sr., Clinton and Perot during the 1992 race.   A woman in the audience asks how the national debt has personally affected the candidates lives, a question that Bush Sr. simply cannot handle but that Clinton takes and hits out of the park - it being practically tailor made to his campaign message of the elder Bush being completely out of touch with the plight of the American people during a troubled economic period.

2.  Lyndon Baines Johnson’s “Daisy” Campaign Advertisement

LBJ’s Daisy is perhaps the most famous political advertisement in American history.   It’s message was abstract, contrasting a young girl playing in a field full of flowers with a thermonuclear mushroom cloud detonation.   Opponent Barry Goldwater is never mentioned by name but the message is clear: Goldwater is a loose cannon who cannot be trusted with the nation’s nuclear arsenal.   Johnson ended up winning in one of the biggest landslides in American history.

1.  1960 John F. Kennedy - Richard Nixon Debate

Our top TV Age Moment of Presidential Campaigns is the debate that showed politicians there was a new Sheriff in town when it came to campaigning and its name was Television.   As noted in the clip below, most people who heard this debate on the radio thought that Nixon had won, but the Tube told an entirely different tale with Tricky Dick appearing shifty and haggard while JFK was poised and refined.   The rest is history…

You can takepart in researching the history of televised politics by checking out The Living Room Candidate, a website of Presidential political advertisements from 1952-2008 compiled by the good people at the American Museum of the Moving Image.

LINKS:

Pollster.com

NY Times: The Caucus

Daily Kos