Читать книгу The CQ Press Career Guide for Political Science Students - Wendy N. Whitman Cobb - Страница 16

Just as there are opportunities for lawyers both in and out of government service, jobs in the realm of campaigns and elections straddle the border as well. Due to laws restricting the use of governmental staff in the service of campaigning, when politicians run for office, they require a whole separate apparatus to organize and run their campaigns. Opportunities to work on political campaigns are wide and varied but unfortunately ebb and flow with the coming and going of election season. Campaign operatives are needed to assist in organizing travel for both the candidate and needed staffers, communicating with the press, establishing a message to potential voters, mobilizing potential voters, writing speeches, testing public opinion, and, perhaps most importantly, raising money. Today’s modern campaigns require staffers to address new dimensions of life and society, including social media and rapid reaction to comments made by others. Often, jobs with candidates can be parlayed into government positions, if and when the favored candidate wins election.

The importance and scale of campaigns and elections are such that cottage industries specializing in all of these tasks have grown to behemoth scale. These policy shops provide specialized advice to candidates and their campaigns about what their message should be or sound like, the appearance of the candidates themselves, public policy issues, and public opinion. In fact, pollsters, those who construct and conduct public opinion polls, are in high demand not just for those seeking public office but those already in it. Other firms provide services such as crafting media messages and campaign commercials. One of the most important services that these operatives can offer is on how to raise the enormous amounts of money that are often needed to run successful campaigns. A political science degree is excellent preparation for these professions because, in addition to the basic knowledge gained, many programs require courses in research methods and statistical methods that impart strong analytical research skills.

One final area of employment in the arena of campaigns and elections is that of campaign finance law. Given the flow of money into politics today and the complicated laws and regulations about what can and cannot be accepted, campaign finance lawyers are often needed to advise campaigns on what is acceptable or not and to file the required disclosures that most all candidates must file revealing who has given what to their campaign. These lawyers can play powerful roles in the outcomes of elections themselves not only by advising candidates but by shaping the interpretation of campaign finance law.