In Spite of Cold Weather, Candidates Engrossed in Drawing More Votes

The presidential election campaign is now in full swing as candidates go canvassing after finishing registering their candidacy with the National Election Commission.

This year news about primaries within the majority Grand National Party (GNP) and the pro-government Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) and the political alliance between the MDP and National Alliance to pick up a single candidate made the headlines more often than ever.

However, because of the "long preliminary race," the public says that only now they could feel the "final contest" hearing the blaring from the speakers of each party`s cars for public relations and looking at street campaigning.

Ñ Street campaign = Parties started the street campaigning on Nov. 27 playing party songs with cheerful tones. Lee Hoi-chang, presidential candidate of the GNP went on a stumping tour through Seoul, Busan and Daegu for two days with the start of the Jongno campaign in downtown Seoul on Nov. 27. On this tour, he visited 33 places and in each place he stayed for a half to one hour.

In some campaign places, famous figures including GNP leader Seo Chung-won, Rep. Choi Byung-ryul, Rep. Park Geun-hye, former representative Park Chan-jong, and Professor Kim Dong-gil were mobilized and some 3000 citizens rushed to each place, making people realize the upcoming presidential election race.

There are trucks whose back was installed with many TV screens for campaigning on the street. Passers-by on the street could watch candidates delivering speeches on the screens.

Roh, presidential nominee of the MDP visited 13 places for two days, including 10 places in Busan, Gyeonggi and Seoul.

In particular, he went out of his way to reach out to ordinary people in his campaign on the subway from Bucheon to Cheongryangri, which started at 11:00 on Nov. 28 in the square in front of Bupyeong Station.

In some places he canvassed, about 1000 people from a group supporting him in addition to some 20 MDP party members and bodyguards appeared, chanting "National Alliance 21 and Roh Moo-hyun are the best."

Ñ Campaign strategies = In order to wipe away his image as an aristocrat and make an impression of a young and tender candidate, Lee of the GNP wore a casual jacket and a red shirt. He even died his hair dark brown.

With a party song titled "Anyone can become a president?" which was based on Tae Jin-ah`s song, "Anyone can fall in love?" he tried to spread the perception that he is ready to come to power. On the other hand, with another song, “Inevitable” which was a remake of Baby Vox` "Accidental" he stressed that the change of government was inevitable.

The GNP rented two five-ton trucks, one used as a campaign stage and the other for video recording and each of its 227 branch offices also rented a truck for campaign speeches.

Roh is trying to come across as a "stable" candidate with a warm yellow tone reducing his reformist image. So, for party songs, he chose "Yellow handkerchief" of Tae Jin-ah, "Guy in a yellow shirt" of Han Myung-suk. Meanwhile, with songs such as “Whaling" and "To a country of hope" he plans to highlight his image as an ordinary person.

The MDP, for which the single candidacy with National Alliance 21 took a lot of time, has not yet prepared detailed plans for the election campaign. Therefore, it is trying to keep to the minimum equipment and campaigners. The detailed plan will be decided in 2-3 days.

An official of the MDP said, "We are not well prepared yet for the campaign. So down the branch offices, the difference between the GNP and us in terms of campaign preparedness could even widen. Now it is hard to talk about this."

Ñ Public response = People are showing positive attitudes toward parties` street campaigns, saying that they could feel the presidential race on hand from the cheerful songs and campaigners taking deep bows.

Gye Myung-guk, who met Roh on the subway On Nov. 28 said, "Perhaps because of a lot of debates on TV and primaries, I got an impression that the presidential race is held in a somewhat transparent way. I hope that the two major candidates will make a lot of contribution to the establishment of a better election culture.

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