--- title: Tricks of the Trade for Rand Paul: How To Announce a Run for President description: It's possible for a candidate's announcement speech to be tried, judged, and a verdict reached even before the speech has ended. canonical: https://time.com/3773163/announcing-run-for-president-rand-paul/ author: Russ Schriefer article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-07T13:51:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:40.885Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Tricks of the Trade: How To Announce a Run for President og:description: Sometimes, the promise of the free media attention is way too tempting. og:url: https://time.com/3773163/announcing-run-for-president-rand-paul/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5db0c415b43665fb/698786f15f570f6092b1621d/rand-paul.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Rand Paul og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tricks of the Trade: How To Announce a Run for President twitter:description: Sometimes, the promise of the free media attention is way too tempting. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5db0c415b43665fb/698786f15f570f6092b1621d/rand-paul.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tricks of the Trade: How To Announce a Run for President by [Russ Schriefer](https://time.com/author/russ-schriefer/) ## Russ Schriefer Apr 7, 2015 1:51 PM UTC  Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) gives a speech on Monday, March 23, 2015, at the Associated Builders and Contractors of Indiana/ Kentucky office in Bowling Green, Ky. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) gives a speech on Monday, March 23, 2015, at the Associated Builders and Contractors of Indiana/ Kentucky office in Bowling Green, Ky.Austin Anthony—AP by [Russ Schriefer](https://time.com/author/russ-schriefer/) ## Russ Schriefer Apr 7, 2015 1:51 PM UTC “And so today with my family by my side, I announce my candidacy for President of the United States.” Over the next several weeks, at my last count, at least 17 Republican and Democrat candidates will say these words and begin running for our nation’s highest office. Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul is [expected](http://time.com/3772431/rand-paul-presidential-campaign-video-2016/) to join that list today. But what happens before the banners are printed, the balloons drop, and the confetti falls? Up until now, these fledgling campaigns have been playing “off-Broadway,” engaging in what they call the invisible primary – the process of lining up donors and staff, road-testing messages, and building websites and databases, all in preparation for the big day. On announcement day, the previews are over, and the show is open to the public and the critics (the media). To prepare, the candidates and their teams will be trying to find that right mix of symbolism, message, and enthusiasm that will launch their drive to lead the free world. When well executed, a good announcement helps set the tone for the campaign. It establishes the campaign’s message and tests the campaign’s organizational skills. We remember Barack Obama announcing on a frigid day in Springfield, Illinois. Symbolism? I’m from the heartland, the land of Lincoln. Message? I am a historic figure as well – someone who can change the country. And nothing says enthusiasm like thousands of supporters standing in the bitter cold waiting for a candidate to speak. In June 2011, I imagine the Jon Huntsman campaign was riding pretty high when they pulled into Liberty State Park and announced the governor’s run for president. With the Statue of Liberty behind him, evoking memories of Ronald Reagan in 1980, Huntsman stepped forward to declare his candidacy. It all seemed like a good idea at the time. Yet, a series of mishaps, poor executions and the lack of an enthusiastic crowd drowned out Huntsman’s message. Instead, the campaign faced a week’s worth of negative stories about the process of announcing. ### See 10 Presidential Campaign Launches  Mitt Romney launched his second campaign on June 2, 2011, in the first primary state, New Hampshire, with a scathing attack on President Obama's economic record. Stephan Savoia—AP  John McCain launched his second campaign on April 25, 2007, in New Hampshire with a speech that began with the Iraq War and foreign policy. Stephan Savoia—AP  Barack Obama launched his campaign before the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., on Feb. 10, 2007, with a speech that referenced Abraham Lincoln. Mark Cowan—Bloomberg/Getty Images  Hillary Clinton launched her presidential campaign on Jan. 20, 2007, by posting the words "I'm in" on her website. AP  John Kerry launched his presidential campaign on Sept. 2, 2003, in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., with a speech about the Iraq War. Lawrence Jackson—AP  June 16, 1999 Carthage, Tenn. Ron Edmonds—AP  George W. Bush launched his first campaign on June 12, 1999, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with a speech about "compassionate conservatism." Harry Hamburg—New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images  Bill Clinton launched his first campaign on Oct. 3, 1991, in Little Rock, Ark., with a speech about change. Cynthia Johnson—Getty Images  George H.W. Bush announced his first presidential campaign on Oct. 12, 1987, in Houston, Texas, with a speech about his work as vice president. Ed Kolenovsky—AP  Ronald Reagan launched his presidential campaign on Nov. 13, 1979,in New York City with a speech about the role of government. Walt Zeboski—AP Sometimes fate or just bad luck intercedes. In 1995, I was working for Senator Robert Dole, and on the morning of his announcement, we were informed that the senator had a nasty, little, broken blood vessel in one eye. In person, it didn’t look that bad. But through a camera lens it appeared just awful. We had five campaign cameras filming the event plus thousands of media photographers getting the same tight shot of the senator with a red, bloodshot eye. And with Dole’s age already an issue, the crimson eye only fed reporters’ questions. Then there is the campaign manager’s version of the 4 a.m. phone call. In the middle of the night before your announcement, you are informed of a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or that someone prominent has just died. This immediately forces the campaign to make a decision – cancel the announcement or stay the course and run the risk of appearing insensitive and having your big day lost to a bigger story. Lesson learned? If you are even discussing canceling the event, you probably should cancel the event. Every four years it gets more difficult. The news cycles and the attention spans get shorter. Today the narrative is shaped not by operatives and journalists throwing back drinks at the end of the day, boys-on-the-bus style, but on Twitter, Snapchat, Meerkat, Facebook and a dozen other social media platforms where snark rules the day and judgments are passed in a 140 characters or fewer. It’s possible for a candidate’s announcement speech to be tried, judged, and a verdict reached even before the speech has ended. So why even do it? There is nothing in the law that says you have to stage an announcement extravaganza. A candidate could tweet out that he or she is running for president, file the proper paperwork with the Federal Election Commission and go to lunch. But the promise of the free media attention is way too tempting, and that pushes campaigns into devising all manner of announcement hoopla. Whether a candidate announces in a field in New Hampshire, at a university in Virginia, or on the front porch of her girlhood home, for most of these candidates it will all end the same way — in a generic hotel suite on a night when not enough votes came their way with a hastily written concession speech in their pocket. And for the winner — well, their announcement won’t matter at all. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3773163/announcing-run-for-president-rand-paul/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3773163/announcing-run-for-president-rand-paul/"},"headline":"Tricks of the Trade: How To Announce a Run for President","datePublished":"2015-04-07T13:51:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:04:40.885Z","description":"It's possible for a candidate's announcement speech to be tried, judged, and a verdict reached even before the speech has ended","url":"https://time.com/3773163/announcing-run-for-president-rand-paul/","keywords":["politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5db0c415b43665fb/698786f15f570f6092b1621d/rand-paul.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Russ Schriefer","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/russ-schriefer/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5db0c415b43665fb/698786f15f570f6092b1621d/rand-paul.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rand Paul","caption":"Rand Paul","creditText":"Austin Anthony—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3773163/announcing-run-for-president-rand-paul/","name":"Tricks of the Trade: How To Announce a Run for President"}}]}] ```