Hardball+Lesson+3

=Hardball Lesson #3: Positioning =


 * Group: Grace, Mary Leigh, Eleonore** **(you can login as me to upload video and images or create your own user name: ccsark; mcgehee** 


=__POSITIONING__ =

 Imagine you're trying to convince your mom to let you go to a party. Are you going to tell her that it's the biggest party ever with craziness and no parents, or will you tell her that it's a few friends hanging out and you will make great decisions? In this case, you should __POSITION__ yourself to appeal the most to your audience...

 __Definition:__

 * “A) decide where you want to be in relation to the voter. B) put yourself there” (Matthews 210).
 * Positioning is putting oneself in a certain light that appeals to voters/supporters.
 * Once you know what your supporters want, you can place yourself in the position that they will accept/support.

__ Example from Recent Politics: __
media type="custom" key="1699351"


 * Obama chooses to literally, technologically connect with the younger crowd on //their// level--> if he positions himself as one of them he gains their support

media type="custom" key="1699539"


 * Obama chooses Biden for his Vice President to position himself for the older, more experienced voters--> he knows that he seems unexperienced so he wants backup

__Example from //Hardball//: __
1. **Who** is the audience? 2. **How** can I appeal to them? <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">“Pundits have spent years trying to figure out how Ronald Reagan escaped responsibility for the government’s problems and mistakes. The simple answer is that he refused to be seen as part of that government” (Matthews 217).
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">“When Reagan used such techniques, he was positioning himself with enormous science, establishing himself in the public mind not as an aloof head of government but as the man next door” (Matthews 216).
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">Although he was the head of the United States Government, Reagan removed himself from it, making it appear as though he was a distant onlooker and therefore convinced his supporters that he was not part of it.
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">Reagan answers the positioning questions questions perfectly:

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Works Cited <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Matthews, Chris. Hardball: How Politics is Played by One Who Knows the Game. New York: Free Press, 1988.

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">pictures: [[http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/28/05/23410528.jpghttp://www.extrememortman.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/Ronald%20Reagan%20baseball.jpg|http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/28/05/23410528.jpg

http://www.extrememortman.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/Ronald%20Reagan%20baseball.jpg]]