2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Who will Obama's strong supporters back for primary nomination? [View all]karynnj
(59,504 posts)the other two. (:
I think the powers that be do have huge input. They control much of the media on the possible candidates and they provide a lot of the campaign contributions that are needed to run a viable campaign. This changed somewhat with Dean in 2004 and the idea of internet fund raising. However, with little positive media it is hard to get the visibility in the first place.
In fact, I think Iowa and NH may be the ONLY place where the huge advantages of being the favorite of the media/powers that be are not overwhelming - but they are still there. I think 2004 may be one of the few examples where that was true. Though many want to rewrite history, before Iowa Kerry had so little support of the TPTB that he lent his campaign all the money he could to get his message out. In addition, the media mostly questioned when he would drop out. No one predicted his win in Iowa.