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Profile: MMC Professor Kent Worcester Says Political Buttons Offer Insight to Candidates’ Campaign Strategies

(New York, NY) Kent Worcester, chair of the Division of Social Sciences and associate professor of political science at MMC, sees the influence of the humble political button amidst the presidential campaign in a largely Internet-dominated culture. Professor Worcester shares his interest in political buttons with the College by holding a regular button sale/informal political straw poll with his students every election year. Professor Worcester, whose own collection includes buttons dating back as far as the Woodrow Wilson presidency, says political buttons can communicate a lot about candidates and political trends.

Worcester is seeing a renewed interest in the use of the once-popular “face” button, particularly by the Clinton and Obama campaigns. Not since Ross Perot, Worcester says, who was especially fond of face buttons, have we seen such wide use. Worcester believes the resurrection of face buttons on the Democratic side has much to do with the fact that this is a history-making election, with the first woman and the first Black man seeking the presidency. It makes sense, he says, to use buttons to showcase those faces.

Worcester also notes a strong patriotic theme in this year’s crop of buttons particularly from McCain supporters. There are plenty of buttons showing deep blues, flag colors and military style font. “The two sides are waging a button war using very different kinds of imagery,” he says. “Smart campaigns provide some guidelines about branding, but give lots of latitude to allow individuals and groups to create their own buttons to show support and drive the campaign.”

While T-shirts and hats and other political swag can be expensive, buttons are affordable to nearly everyone and are easily created for very specific supporters. There are Web sites that offer specialized campaign buttons allowing social and political movements, not just candidates - opportunities to espouse their views – a peace sign as the “O” in Obama, a “Hot Pink ‘H’ for President,” “I like Mike” (Huckabee that is) and even a “First Dude” button for Bill Clinton.

Published: April 16, 2008

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