The Study of Campaign Communication Strategies of Thai Political Candidates in Bangkok

T. Anekjumnongporn

ABSTRACT Political Parties in Thailand This study aims to identify Bangkok candidates’ Political parties are significant institutions for campaign communication strategies that include the Thai democratic system because, according to the mass media advertisements, interpersonal commu- Thai Constitution of 1997, anyone who would like to nication strategies, and compliance-gaining strate- run for a seat as a Member of Parliament has to be a gies. Two kinds of research methods were employed: member of a political party. Boonbongkarn (1987) a survey questionnaire and an interview guide. More commented that the strength of the elected National than half (51%) out of 253 candidates applying to run Assembly of Thailand depends largely on the for a seat in 1998 Bangkok City Council campaign strength of Thailand's political parties. In addition, returned the questionnaires back. some political parties support candidates in local The major findings from both the questionnaire level elections. and interview data are that most of the candidates did Following the enactment of the Political Party not employ newspaper advertisement. But they Act of B.E.2489, the first three Thai political parties reported that they used non-newspaper advertise- were formed. Boonbongkarn (1987) explained that ments such as mobile cars and posters. Specifically, “One was the Sahacheep Party, which advocated the candidates tended to employ interpersonal com- socialism and supported Pridi; the second was the munication strategies more than mass media adver- Constitutional Front Party, which also supported tisements. Pridi but did not subscribe to socialism. The third Thailand changed its political system from an party was the conservative Democrat Party under the absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy in leadership of Khuang Aphaiwong, which supported June 1932 A.D. (Dhiravekin, 1997, p.127). Accor- capitalism and liberal democracy” (p.68). The first ding to the first constitution of the Thai Kingdom two of these parties were military-based. Since 1946, given by King Prapokklao (King Rama VII) on 10 five Political Party Acts have been issued December 1932 A.D., the first national election was respectively: in 1955, 1968, 1974, 1981, and 1992 arranged in 1933 A.D. There have been more than 18 (Meevongukot, 1996, p.253). national elections in Thailand since 1933, resulting in The starting point of the development of the a change in the election process at every level of political parties in Thailand was in the period of government. Currently, there are 76 provinces, each 1975-1976. Prior to this period, the military played a with their unique political dynamics worthy of study. prominent role in the leadership of most Thai Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, is one such political parties. As of 1975-1976, however, that political entity. Bangkok is the only province in situation began to change, especially as the Thailand in which the city governor and the Serimanangasila Party and the United Thai People's councilors are elected. This city administration is Party, military-affiliated, disbanded and civilian unique in comparison to the other 75 provincial leadership replaced military leadership in a number governors in Thailand in that the Ministry of Interior of other parties (Boonbongkarn, 1987). Neher (1976) appoints the political leadership in all other explained that, in Thailand, “Party lines are not based provinces. on ideologies but rather on the personalities and Since the 1932 political system revolution, aspirations of political leaders”(p.324). This transforming Thailand from an absolute monarchy to characteristic of Thai political parties has continued a western democratic system, Thai people have had a until the present time. In fact, it can be clearly seen chance to exercise their rights to vote for their that most of the political campaigns in Thailand representatives. Inevitably, communication campaign focus more on the political leaders than on the issues. strategies are becoming increasing important in that At present, Thai political parties serve three they are used to persuade people to vote for the functions. One function is to provide a link between candidates (Smith, 1997). the electorate and the government. That is, people The goal of this study is to unfold the political employ the political parties as channels to present the campaign communication strategies employed by the needs of the populace. The second function is to candidates in Bangkok, Thailand. “contribute to political socialization. As parties have

propagated their views during election campaigns, campaign, all Thai citizens over 18 years of age were people have been informed about existing political able to cast votes for the first time. According to the and economic situations and presented with argu- National Identity Board, Office of the Prime Minister ments and counter-arguments” (Boonbongkarn, Information Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1987, pp.69-70). In addition, Boonbongkarn (1987) Royal Thai Embassy, Washington, D.C., last updated described the last function of political parties as March 1997, the 1996 national election campaign follows: marked the second time in succession that there was The third function of political parties is political a peaceful transition of power from one democrati- recruitment. Most political leaders have been drawn cally elected government to another. This demon- from the civil and military bureaucracy, but parties strates that the democratic system in Thailand has served as ladders to top political posts for a few grown stronger and is becoming institutionalized. politically ambitious people from outside the bureaucracy, particularly the rural elites, business Bangkok City Councilor Elections leaders, and professionals such as doctors and This part outlines the history of Bangkok City lawyers” (p.70). Councilor election campaigns since the first election The political party system in Thailand has been in 1985 until the 1998 campaign. The number of interrupted many times by coup d’etat conducted by Bangkok City Councilors depends on the population the military leader at that time. This can make the of Bangkok Metropolis –“there is one City Councilor political party system weak. Boonbongkarn (1987) for every one hundred thousand people. The explained that the weaknesses of the political party Bangkok City Council has a four-year term” (http:// system in Thailand have resulted from the following www.bma.go.th, 01/10/1999). factors: Bangkok is a big province in terms of number of One is an absence of organizational complexity. people as compared with the other 75 provinces in Most parties in Thailand were only factions of Thailand. In order that the administrators of Bangkok members of the National Assembly, who formed can serve their duties to as many people as possible, themselves into groups on personal bases. Most Bangkok is currently divided into 50 districts. The parties in Thailand have had limited linkages to more people in a province, the more complicated the interest groups and organizations such as labor administrative method that is employed. The Bang- unions and business associations. As a result, the kok City Councilors are the representatives of people parties have lacked appeal to workers and peasants. in each district who issue the laws that are appro- The lack of mass support has also been a result of a priate to Bangkok people and their life styles. lack of party continuity. Factionalism also contri- Three Bangkok City Councilor election cam- butes to the party weakness. In small parties, factions paigns occurred prior to 1998. The 1998 Bangkok do not pose a serious threat to the party’s survival. City Councilor election campaign occurred on April But in a larger party, such as the Democrats, factional 26, 1998. There were more than seven parties or splits could really hurt coherence and party groups sending members to be elected in the strength.(pp.70-71) campaign, including the Democrat Party, Modngarn At present, there are more than 10 political Group, Palangthai Group, Prachakornthai Party, parties in Thailand. The researcher cannot specify the Mittraphab Group, Muanchon Party, and Pattana- exact number of parties because changes occur quite bangkhunthian Group. Among these mentioned often. Some political parties have disappeared parties, only the Democrat Party sent candidates to because none of their party candidates were elected run for a seat in every district of Bangkok while some of them have united with another party in Metropolis. Similar to the past three election order to create a larger party. Some of the current campaigns for Bangkok City Councilor positions, political parties in Thailand are New Aspiration there were 90 independent candidates who applied to Party, Democrat Party, Chart Pattana Party, Chart run for a position. There were 268 candidates who Thai Party, Social Action Party, Prachakorn Thai applied to run for a seat in the 1998 Bangkok City Party, Solidarity Party, Seritham Party, Muanchon Councilor Election Campaign. At present, Bangkok Party, Palang Dharma Party, Thai Party, Liberal is divided into 50 districts with the number of people Democratic Party, Num Thai Party, Conservative in Bangkok increasing year after year. Party, and Labour Party. Not all of the parties managed to get someone elected at the national level The Objective of the Study in the 1996 campaign or in the 1998 Bangkok City This study investigates the campaign commu- Councilor election campaign. nication strategies that political candidates in At the time of this research, the latest general Bangkok have employed by examining the 1998 election was held November 1996. The purpose of Bangkok City Councilor Election Campaign. The that election campaign was to elect 393 Members of researcher sought to identify which campaign Parliament. These 393 Members of Parliament were communication strategies were employed by the elected to be the Members of the lower house of the winning candidates. At the same time, the researcher Parliament. Each Member of Parliament represents wanted to discover the campaign communication approximately 150,000 people. In the 1996 election strategies employed by the losing candidates. The

researcher hopes that the findings of the present planning and implementing their campaigns at either study can be beneficial for candidates who plan to the national or the local level in Bangkok. In this run for a seat either at the national or local level review of literature, research on different political election campaign in Bangkok in the near future. campaign communication strategies employed by candidates both in the United States of America and Statement of the Problem in Thailand is examined. Theories concerning The researcher employed the 1998 Bangkok City incumbent strategies, challenger strategies, com- Councilor Election Campaign because, although pliancegaining strategies, and interpersonal com- candidates do not have to be affiliated with a political munication in political campaigns are discussed. party or group when they apply to run for a seat, Finally, the research questions are established. some candidates do come from political parties that Political advertising is one of the major areas for put forth candidates for election at the local level. analyzing political communication. The results of the The political parties put forth their representatives to studies of political spots can be helpful not only for be elected in the hope that the elected candidates who candidates wishing to implement their political are affiliated with the party or group will be able to campaigns but also for political consultants seeking help other candidates coming from the same party or to design campaigns for their candidates. group campaign at the national level in the future. Televised political spots were introduced into Additionally, Bangkok serves as the ‘center’ of presidential politics in 1952 in the campaign of Thailand. The government offices are located in General Dwight D. Eisenhower. He used television Bangkok, and Bangkok boasts the most modern spots to persuade Americans to vote for him. Trent buildings in Thailand. Many people from other and Friedenberg (1995) mentioned three types of provinces in Thailand come to study and work in political ads: ads extolling the candidate’s virtues; Bangkok because of its sociopolitical importance as ads condemning/attacking/questioning the opponent; the capital of Thailand. As is arguably true in many and ads responding to attacks or innuendos. The first countries, being an incumbent is an advantage for type of political ads serves to develop the candidate's political candidates. Consequently, if a political party issues in the campaign and to promote the virtues or has its base in Bangkok, it will be easier for that strengths of the candidate. Campaign consultants will party to succeed in national election campaigns. The bring videostyles, as identified by Lynda Lee Kaid, elected candidates could be representative of the to produce the spots. According to Kaid and parties efforts to persuade voters in their constituency Davidson (1986), videostyles consist of three major to cast their votes for the party’s national-level factors: verbal content, nonverbal content, and candidate. film/video production techniques. Videostyles have Finally, there has never been a study of Bangkok been used by a number of researchers as a model for City Councilors’ campaign communication stra- the study of the political ads. When the researchers tegies. It is time for research to uncover the campaign study political ads, they typically employ content communication strategies employed by these analysis together with an interpretive approach. candidates. Hopefully, the results of the present study The second type of political ad condemns/ will be a source of planning and campaign commu- attacks/questions the opponent. Trent and Frieden- nication strategy implementation for any candidates berg (1995) note that “these are ads designed to place who plan to run for a seat at either the national or the the opponent in an unfavorable light or in an local (Bangkok) level. uncomfortable position. They focus on the short- comings (real or imagined) of the opponent rather LITERATURE REVIEW than the attributes of the candidate” (p. 129). In other Researchers interested in political communi- words, the purpose of this type of ad is to create cation can investigate a candidate’s campaign and/or increase the negative image of one’s strategies by employing a variety of sources, such as opponent. From the results of interviews with some newspapers, a candidate’s distributed artifacts during American voters about the types of ads that they door-to-door campaigns, the candidate’s speeches prefer to see during the primary election for Athens, etc. It does not matter what sources the researcher Ohio commissioners in April 1998, most of the employs, the focus of the study is either on the respondents (4 out of 5 respondents) answered that message or on the image the candidate tries to they preferred to see positive ads (Anekjum- present to the voters. Ultimately, every candidate nongporn, Santo, Ghetti, and Johnson, 1998). None- wants to achieve the same thing, that is, to be elected. theless, according to Trent and Friedenberg (1995), This study is not unusual when compared with there is a good reason for the increasing use of previous studies of political communication. The negative ads in political campaigns. Simply put, focus of the present work is on the campaign negative ads work. They can make people change communication strategies employed by both the their perceptions of the candidates. winners and the losers of the 1998 Bangkok City The last type of political ad is a rebuttal ad. Council election campaign. The hope is that future According to Trent and Friedenberg (1995), “the candidates can employ the findings from this study in only ‘rule’ or ‘law’ that appears to be consistent in

regard to these ads is that they must occur and occur the accuracy of the results of the polls conducted. very rapidly, as well as repeatedly, after the initial Richard (1994) identified eight factors that can attack” (p.133). significantly influence the answers obtained in a poll: The elements in the spots have been changed and survey sponsorship, interview dates, interview developed over the years. One element that has been method, population and sample characteristics, changed from year to year is the length of sample selection techniques, sample size and sample commercials. The time spent on each spot will vary. error, survey design and question wording, and Trent and Friedenberg (1985) observed that “there respondent behavior. These factors will affect the have been half-hour speeches or biographies; 4 or 5 interpretation of the results of the poll. It is not an minute documentaries or other special appeals easy task for pollsters to interpret survey results. squeezeed between evening entertainment programs So individuals responsible for conducting polls or right before or after the late night news: and 20-, should have considerable knowledge, judgment, 30, and 60-seconds” (p.124). However, according to and experience. some research, during the 1980s, the 30 second spot Polling continues to be a widely used method for emerged as the most dominant. The spots have been studying political communication. If the researcher used as one communication strategy in different designs and conducts his/her poll carefully, the phases of each candidate’s political strategy. information received can be useful for planning and Other scholars who have studied political implementing a political campaign communication advertising by analyzing whether the voters strategy in an election campaign. Polling is a quick perception of the political ads are either positive, way to get feedback from respondents that can be negative, or both have included Kaid, Tedesco, and used to adjust strategies and/or determine the next McKinnon (1995), Kaid and Boydston (1987), steps in the campaign. Benoit, Pier, and Blaney (1997), Garramone (1990), Public speaking is important as a fundamental Cohen and Davis (1991) Shapiro, and Riegger communication practice within any campaign. (1992), Weaver-Lariscy and Tinkham (1995), and Helitzer (1994) mentioned that a good speech offers Procter and Schenck-Hamlin (1996). three benefits for a candidate. First, a good speech Polling is a basic means for obtaining informa- can create positive public relations through tion for contemporary political campaigns. The displaying the candidate’s personality. Second, indi- results of citizen polls help to develop, assess, and vidual support can become magnified as a result of modify candidate positions and strategies. In the ‘bandwagon effect,’ i.e., a spreading of con- addition, polling can vary widely in their reliability sensus among those individuals present for the and validity based on the skills and knowledge of speech. Finally, a good speech can be an essential those individuals conducting the polls. component in the process of developing new Fletcher (1996) claimed that polling can be contacts. viewed as a form of mass communication. As Trent and Friedenberg (1995) identified factors described by Fletcher, polling shares a number of that the candidates should consider when designing a characteristics with mass communication. These speech: audience, message delivered to the audience, characteristics include an audience, simultaneity, and the candidate’s speaking ability as well as the standardized content, central control by a corporate format of the speech. In other words, before source, and technological mediation. Polling is designing a good speech to achieve a candidate's impersonal, provides for limited interaction, empha- goal, the candidate has to know the background of sizes conventional wisdom moral concerns, and the audience in order to write a speech that is suffers from noise. compatible with the level of audience's educational Marquette (1996) divided political polling into background, attitudes, and interests. Additionally, the four major types: focus groups, benchmark polls, candidate should consider the format of the speech tracking polls, and quick response polls. These four presentation, insuring that the format is suitable to vary in their timing relative to campaign events and the candidate's speaking ability. the number of respondents involved. All four, In general, candidates must speak as much as however, are intended to guide candidate decision possible during the campaign. It is vital for them to making with respect to his/her campaign. employ a stock speech (speech modules), and the services Furthermore, Marquette (1996) explicated the of speechwriters who should know the candidate, the criteria for high quality surveys. Specifically, subject matter, and possess information concerning the researchers should minimize what is referred to as audience and the occasion. “total survey error.” Total survey error includes In large campaigns, it is impossible for a instrument error, measurement error, and sampling candidate to personally give a speech in every error. These three components are important and situation. It is inevitable that surrogate speakers will should be addressed carefully because these three be used. The persons selected as surrogate speakers forms of error will impact the interpretation of the should be relatives of the candidate as these people results of any survey. Polling can be beneficial or not can be clearly seen as having the closest for political communication researchers depending on identification with the candidate. In addition,

employing surrogate speakers can be beneficial to the It is not always possible to predetermine whether candidates in that surrogates can sometimes speak to political debate will be effective or not for a issues that the candidates cannot address themselves. candidate. Trent and Friedenberg (1995) have iden- In sum, public speaking is important element of tified the potential effects of political debates as a campaign because it provides good opportunities follows: for candidates to identify with their audience and for 1. They attract large audiences. audience members to assess not only the candidate's 2. They seem to reinforce many of the standpoint on the issues but the candidate’s preexisting attitudes and beliefs of audience mem- personality. bers. Another type of political campaign commu- 3. They seem to shift a limited number of voters. nication strategy that the researcher will review in 4. Debates help to set the political agenda. this part is a debate. A debate gives a candidate a 5. They contribute to the education of audience chance to present himself/herself in public. The next members. section is about what a debate is, and how a debate is 6. They seem to affect the images of candidates. beneficial to a candidate. 7. They tend to freeze the campaign in place until Hellweg, Pfau, and Bryan (1992) reported that their conclusion. “the first broadcast debate occurred on radio on May 8. They seem to contribute to the public’s 17, 1948, from Portland, Oregon, between confidence in government institutions and leaders. Republicans Thomas Dewey and Harold Stassen in (p.241) connection with the state primary” (p.1). A debate is In sum, a debate, one kind of political campaign still widely used nowadays in political campaigns in communication strategy, can be useful for both the United States because a debate can be preplanned incumbent and challenger candidates running for an and work very well for candidates. office because the voters will not only see the Trent and Friedenberg (1995) mentioned that candidate's personality but also hear the candidate's there are six questions candidates and their advisors viewpoints on the issues presented during the should address when considering whether or not they broadcast period. should engage in a debate. Those questions are as The researcher reviewed the dynamics of follows: political advertising, polling, public speaking, and a 1. Is this likely to be a close election? If the debate from a western perspective. These campaign election seems as though it will be close and both communication strategies are also employed by Thai candidates are in doubt about the outcome, the candidates (eastern perspective). The results of some likelihood of political debates is greatly increased. research conducted in Thailand and focusing on Thai 2. Are advantages likely to accrue to me if I political communication strategies are presented in debate? No candidate willingly engages in counter- the next section of this chapter. productive activity. Consequently, both candidates must have good reason to expect that the debates will Previous Study of Political Communication be advantageous to them. Research in Thailand 3. Am I a good debater? No candidates will- In the above section, the researcher discussed ingly put themselves in a position where their foe political campaign communication strategies that are will clearly appear to be stronger. Consequently, still employed in the western countries. Admittedly, when measuring themselves against their opponent, only a few researchers in Thailand have examined each candidate must be confident about being a good political campaign communication strategies used by debater. candidates at the local level in Bangkok. In this 4. Are there only two major candidates running section, past research conducted in Thailand directly for the office? Typically, the U.S. political system relevant to political campaign communication strate- produces two serious candidates for each office. On gies is reviewed. those occasion when a third candidate seems to have In 1985, Sukharangsan studied voting behavior the possibility of drawing a respectable share of the of the Bangkok population during the 1985 vote, the likelihood of debates being held is reduced. gubernatorial election (which is a local election) in 5. Do I have control of all the important order to find out whether it differs or resembles variables in the debate situation? Each candidate behavior in the general elections. The results were must feel comfortable with all the major variables in that voters reported voting for the personality of the the debate situation: the dates, location, formats, candidate rather than for a party because they topics, and other participants (moderators and ques- considered policies of the candidate to be more tioners). Unless every candidate feels in control of all important than his/her party affiliation. the major variables in the debate, they are unlikely to Watanaporn (1991) compared the effect of consent to debate. various communicative tools during an election in 6. Is the field clear of incumbents? If either order to ascertain whether there was any commu- candidate is an incumbent seeking reelection, the nication between representatives and voters after the probability of a debate taking place is reduced, election. For example, the researcher found that the especially for lower level races. (pp.216-217) candidates published documents both before and

after the election. The documents that were published party, and the policies and procedures for setting up were classified into three types: general documents the government. published by each and every candidate or party; Anuman-Rajadhon (1994) is another researcher documents published by two candidates or parties; who investigated the campaign techniques of the and specific documents published by an individual Thai Members of Parliament in the 1988 General candidate or party. Watanaporn found that these election. He sought to determine how Thai Members documents tended to focus on the candidate's party or of Parliament campaigned for office. Two findings the candidate himself/herself. In addition, the results from his research relating to this dissertation were of the study showed that policy and problem solving that differences in overt campaign techniques, such promises were the most commonly messages issued as newspaper advertisements, door-to-door campaign by the candidates. techniques, etc. were best explained by the Member Watanaporn (1991) also found that mass media of Parliament’s former occupation and party mem- and other media were the most effective campaign bership. The Members of Parliament who had been method. The most common campaign method was former military officers and government officials, the use of propaganda and leaflets. The candidates and belonged to well-financed and/or well-esta- employed public speaking, focusing their topics on blished parties, such as Chart Thai, Democrat Party, the community, ideology, and policies or resulting and Prachakornthai, were more intensively engaged benefit of the party or candidate's works. In addition, in overt campaigning. the findings from Watanaporn’s study showed that In 1995, Chotigavanit investigated why acade- personnel media was an important and effective micians-turned candidates could not get elected in the resource for the candidate when conducting a recent general election. She found that the acade- campaign. The final finding of Watanaporn’s micians’ campaigns were not responsive to the basic research was the candidates’ conclusion that meeting needs of voters; the higher degree of education held with important persons of the community and visiting by the academicians did not give them a better members of the constituency were important parts of chance than other educated contestants; the acade- the campaign. These individuals are influential to the micians did not provide concrete benefits to the voters in the constituency. Consequently, the voters or influence people in their constituency. candidates should have a good connection with the Sarapanich (1996) studied the relationship leaders of the community to make the voters cast between the discourse of voters as they spoke about their votes for the candidates. Parliament and the discourse of politicians running Siripayak (1993) studied the effect of mass for office. Not surprisingly, Sarapanich found that media on an election campaign. The researcher found those politicians whose discourse was consistent with that mass media was the main focus of all four that of the voters were more likely to be elected. political parties. In addition, she found that obstacles Though the research in Thailand reviewed to employing mass media in the election still existed. political campaign communication strategies em- Her conclusions were based on her investigation of ployed by the candidates at both the national and the the use of mass media by the political parties in the local levels, the results and findings of the various Bangkok Governor election on January 7, 1990 and studies reviewed in this section are not relevant to the involved an analysis of policies, formats, and research about the campaign communication strate- operation, as well as an attempt to understand gies of Bangkok City Council, Thailand. It can be obstacles in utilizing the mass media. concluded that the campaign communication strate- Tawee (1992) researched the strategies of the gies used by either the national or local level candidates in the election campaign for Provincial candidates were similar in some respects, such as Council by focusing on the use of the main political using mass media and interpersonal communication resources that the candidates have or can acquire to strategies. However, the above results came either win an election. Tawee concluded that the personal from the responses of candidates who are affiliated qualifications of the candidate are not the determi- with a political party, if at the national level, or from ning factors for winning the election. some independent candidates. For example the Vorapan, Keskowit, and Samranvet (1993) con- candidates who ran for Bangkok Governor (a local ducted their research on political parties and commu- level election campaign) are not necessarily affiliated nication behavior during general election campaigns with a political party. It is time to investigate the in 1992. They found that every political party campaign communication strategies employed by employed integrated media, i.e., print media, elec- local level candidates in Bangkok. tronic media, and specific media. Each political party employed the same creative strategies, speci-fically, Theoretical Concerns: The Incumbent, an appeal focusing on the party's leader and that Challenger Strategies person’s capacity to solve problems in the capital Campaign strategies are the techniques or the city. The media content focused on the dominant methods that candidates employ in a political qualifications of the party’s leader as being suitable campaign. In one campaign, there can be both an for the role of Prime Minister, the history of the incumbent and one or more challengers. On the surface,

it is difficult to identify any particular strategy as behavior. Wheeless et al. (1983) also concluded that ‘belonging to’ an incumbent or a challenger since compliance-gaining behavior refers to “the communi- virtually any campaign strategy might be accessible cative behavior in which an agent engages so as to to either individual. That is, there are few inherent elicit from a target some agent-selected behavior. It characteristics that identify a strategy as belonging to may be thought of as an inducement for behavioral only incumbents or only challengers. Nevertheless, conformity” (p.111). Trent and Friedenberg (1995) described and divided Compliance-gaining strategies are the messages campaign strategies into two types: incumbent strate- an agent selects to persuade a target to do as the gies and challenger strategies. agent desires. Researchers in the communication During the implementation stage of an election field have classified compliance-gaining strategies campaign, the candidates know whether they are into many different schemes. For the purpose of this either incumbents or challengers. By knowing their research, Marwell and Schmitt's (1967) strategic status, the candidates will select the campaign classification scheme was selected because their communication strategies that might work for them questionnaire identifies a range of persuasive on the basis of the above division of strategies. behaviors that one might reasonably expect would be Wadsworth (1986) analyzed television campaign ads employed in a political campaign. The Marwell and from 1952 to 1984, identifying incumbent versus Schmitt questionnaire asks respondents whether or challenger strategies in presidential campaigns. The not they have employed or would employ 16 findings from this study indicated that a candidate's different compliance-gaining techniques in four running position, either as the challenger or as the hypothetical situations (on the job, with family, in a incumbent, influenced the adoption of particular sales situation, and with a roommate). The results of strategies and techniques in communication with their study supported “the conceptualization of voters. That is, the winning incumbents employed compliance-gaining techniques by general dimen- strategies or techniques that enhanced their image sions based on use”(Marwell and Schmitt, 1967, while the winning challengers challenged that image p.350). Rubin, Palmgreen, and Sypher (1994) by questioning the incumbent's past deeds and explained “Compliance-gaining research focuses on policies and calling for changes. Moreover, a choices people make about what to say when trying candidate’s personal style influenced a candidate’s to persuade others to behave in predetermined ways” selection of particular strategies. (p.142). They go on to credit Marwell and Schmitt However, another kind of communication with having “ brought together techniques suggested strategy that can be applied in a political campaign is by persuasion researchers and created a questionnaire compliance-gaining strategies. Compliance-gaining to elicit people’s tendencies to use particular power strategies are persuasive message strategies that the bases to gain compliance in interpersonal relation- candidates can make use of to persuade people to ships” (p.142). The more people a candidate can vote for them. The concept of compliance-gaining approach, the greater the chance he/she will be strategies is discussed in the next section. elected. Additionally, the Marwell and Schmitt schema has served as the foundation for much of the Compliance-Gaining Strategies work done on compliance-gaining strategies (see, for In political campaigns, no matter what kind of example, Falbo, 1977). strategies are implemented, the purpose of campaign- Marwell and Schmitt (1967) identified 16 ing is to try to convince voters to vote in a particular compliance-gaining techniques from their research. way. Compliance-gaining strategies are the persua- The researcher excluded aversive stimulation from sive techniques employed by the candidates and their this study because, arguably, this strategy is not parties to persuade voters to agree with a candidate’s appropriate in the context of Thai election political policies and vote for that candidate on campaigns. Naturally, it is not right according to the Election Day. Election Law that a candidate would threaten to According to Wheeless, Barraclough, and Ste- punish voters in order to force them to vote for that wart(1983),“compliance-gaining [focuses] more candidate. Such actions would be punishable by law. closely on the behavioral outcome of communication Thai candidates in Bangkok could employ the other with or without consideration of the presence of an 15 strategies because Thai society is characterized by intervening attitude”(p.111). In addition, they a “patron-client” relationship (Anuman-Rajadhon, claimed “most of the researchers reviewed appear to 1994, p.186). The patron-client relationship provides use the term ‘compliance’ to mean the performance for social ranks in society. People who have higher by one person, the target, of specific behaviors rank have more resources and power than those of desired of the target by another person, the agent” lower rank. In other words, poor people have to (p.110). This means that compliance is a behavioral depend on the rich. So Marwell and Schmitt's scheme result of communication no matter what kind of of compliance-gaining strategies can be applied as a attitudes the receivers have at the moment of model for studying the persuasive message strategies communication. Wheeless et al. (1983) defined the of Thai political candidates in Bangkok. concept of “gaining” as “eliciting”(p.111). Senders of a The Marwell and Schmitt's compliance-gaining message seek a specific change in the receiver’s strategies scheme allows the researcher to focus, in a

meaningful way, on the verbal communication respond to each other immediately. Sometimes the strategies employed in a persuasive campaign. Using candidate can employ his/her representatives to this scheme, it is possible to ask communication communicate directly with the voters in the relevant agents (in this study, political candidates) to reflect district. on the compliance-gaining strategies that they Trent and Friedenberg (1995) indicated that two of employed in 1998 campaign. The use of an a priori the most typical methods of interpersonal campaigning scheme enables not only generalizations across by candidates or their representatives are coffees and candidates but comparisons among different can- door-to-door canvasses. In the coffee method, “the didate groups with each other. campaign organizations will arrange a schedule of coffees (in some areas, tea or beer might be the preferred Interpersonal Communication in Political beverage) for the candidate. The organized events Campaign promote interpersonal transactions with neutral and DeVito (1992) identified a primary principle of friendly voters. Such events provide the candidate with interpersonal communication as being that it is much more than the opportunity simply to meet voters. transactional. This means that interpersonal commu- They provide the candidate with the opportunity to nication is “a process, an ongoing event; the elements establish a relationship, to affect the other parties in the are interdependent; each participant acts as a whole, transaction” (Trent & Friedenberg, 1995, p.248). not in isolated parts and pieces” (p.27). Interpersonal The effectiveness of the coffee method comes from communication is one kind of communication that the candidate’s personality, his/her concern as presented the candidates, the candidates' assistants, and the to those present, and the frequency of the coffees. In voters can use to communicate with each other addition, the candidate’s associates will be important during election campaigns. Trent and Friedenberg because, typically, the candidate will not attend the coffee (1995) illustrated the implications of the transactional by himself/herself. The candidate will not talk much principle of interpersonal communi-cation for politi- while the candidate’s associate will play a role as the cal communication as follows: leader of a discussion about topics of interest in each First, interpersonal communication is con- district. So the success of the coffee method depends very textual. This means that actors will change their much on the candidate’s associate. communicative styles if the context of communi- In addition to the coffee method, door-to-door cation changes. Second, this perspective suggests canvasses can be used. Though there are differences that each between the coffee method and the door-to-door party to the transaction is simultaneously canvass, Trent and Friedenberg (1995) identified both a sender and a receiver of verbal and their similarities as follows: nonverbal messages. Third, each participant The coffee method and the door-to-door canvass affects and is affected by the other.(pp.244-245) provide candidates and their representatives with an Moreover, Trent and Friedenberg (1995) discussed opportunity to deal personally with a large number of three important venues for interpersonal communication voters. candidates will be perceived as accessible and during a political campaign: interpersonal communication concerned, leaving a positive image with the voters between the candidates and voters, interpersonal they meet. communication between the candidate and potential Presumably, the same impressions should be left financial contributors, and interpersonal communication with voters who meet the candidate’s represent- between voters. The focus of this study is only on the tatives”. (p.250) candidate’s political campaign communication strategies The canvassers will play an important role in the in Bangkok, Thailand. In other words, in the case of this door-to-door canvass as the persons who distribute research interpersonal communication primarily involves information about the candidate, provide information communication between the candidate and the voters. about the candidate via conversations with the voters, Interpersonal communication is mostly used in local leave the materials, and arrange to have additional campaigns in the United States because with minor information sent later if the voters need it. exceptions, the prospective voters can be expected to In conclusion, interpersonal communication can be physically present in the constituency. Dependent on be applied in political campaign communication due the size of the constituency, it is not essential for to the nature of interpersonal communication as a candidate to buy media time to campaign. Inter- transactional. The major methods used are the coffee personal communication is more beneficial for the local and the door-to-door canvass. Both methods give candidates than the national candidates because the more advantage to the candidate in terms of an local candidates can use a variety of strategies (e.g., going approach that creates personal relationships and even door-to-door) to get his/her message to the voters. close-friends. The voters tend to vote for their friends Candidates have a greater chance to present them rather than other persons. selves to the voters directly. The voters can know the candidate of their districts better because both the Research Questions candidates and the voters can ask questions of and The main objective of this study is to identify the

campaign communication strategies used by the Campaign communication strategies are com- candidates in Bangkok. Since there has never been plicated communication processes. The results of the any research on the campaign communication strate- survey questionnaire can only provide a snapshot of gies of the local level candidates who ran for a seat as the communication strategies employed by the can- a Bangkok City Council, the researcher set the didates. One of the limitations of the survey research questions instead of the hypotheses in order questionnaire is that it is composed of close-ended to uncover the political campaign communication questions -- the respondents might not have enough strategies employed by those candidates as follows: space to describe the campaign communication RQ.1. What, if any, are the significant differ- process as they sought to implement that process in rences in the campaign communication strategies their campaigns. Consequently, the researcher employed by the winning versus losing candidates in developed the interview guide containing seven the 1998 Bangkok City Council election campaign? openended questions to use in personal interviews RQ.2. What, if any, are the significant differ- with some of the candidates in order to obtain a rences in the campaign communication strategies richer understanding of the campaign communication employed by the party affiliated versus independent strategies that they employed. candidates in the 1998 Bangkok City Council Questions 1 to 3 asked about the candidate’s use election campaign? of campaign communication strategies in the 1998 RQ.3. What, if any, are the significant differ- Bangkok City Council election campaign in general. rences in the compliance-gaining strategies employed Question 4 dealt with their perceptions of their by the winning versus losing candidates in the 1998 opponent’s campaign strategies and whether they Bangkok City Council election campaign? considered those strategies ethical. Question 5 RQ.4. What, if any, are the significant differ- focused on how the candidate responded to their rences in the compliance-gaining strategies employed opponent’s message. Question 6 was a “clearing by the party affiliated versus independent candidates house” type of question, inviting the candidate to in the 1998 Bangkok City Council election campaign? share any other information about his/her campaign communication strategies that he/she could. Question 7 focused on the candidate’s opinion on the impact of METHODOLOGY the political party/group on the candidate's campaign Sample strategies. All 268 candidates for election during the 1998 Bangkok City Council race were surveyed con- Research Methods cerning the campaign communication strategies they The researcher employed a quantitative used. The researcher obtained a list of the candidates’ approach: a survey questionnaire and individual names and addresses with the help of the Governing interview in order to obtain as much data, from the Department officers of the 50 districts in Bangkok perspective of the candidate, as was possible. The Metropolis. results of the study can, hopefully, be applied to other political campaigns in the future, guiding candidates Research Tools in their selection of and responses to campaign In order to achieve the purpose of this study, the strategies. The data from the survey questionnaire researcher utilized two kinds of research tools: a yielded quantitative information while the individual survey questionnaire and the interview guide for interview questions yielded more insight data to the interviewing process. The researcher adapted the present study. questionnaire from one originally developed by Anuman-Rajadhon (1994) and Marwell and Schmitt Reliability (1967). Questions 1 and 2 asked about building up The researcher pre-tested the questionnaire in the candidate’s popularity within his/her consti- order to insure that the questions on the questionnaire tuency. Questions 3 to 23 dealt with the candidates’ were clear and deemed relevant/appropriate by the campaign demographics and their campaign commu- target group. The researcher selected 25 winning and nication strategies. Questions 24 to 38 focused 25 losing candidates from the 1998 Bangkok Council specifically on the candidate’s use of compliance- candidate list. The selection process began by listing gaining strategies (as defined by Marwell and every candidate's name according to the status of the Schmitt). The last section of the questionnaire candidate first, i.e., whether they were winners or covered demographic data relevant to the losers in the 1998 Bangkok City Council campaign. respondents. The questionnaire was translated into Then these two groups were further divided Thai by the researcher. Then the researcher gave the according to their parties or groups. Next the questionnaire to both lecturers who teach Thai and candidates were given a number starting with 1 for one lecturer who teaches English at Bangkok the winning candidates of the Democratic party and University to read the questions in order to check for going to 268 for the last person of the list who was an unclear wording or phrases and back translated the independent losing candidate. Finally, the researcher questions prior to pretesting the questionnaire. randomly chose 25 winners and 25 losers from the

name list of the candidates. These 50 candidates their campaign strategies. It took about one and a half received the questionnaire by mail. The question- months for the interview process to be completed. naires were sent again after two weeks of the first The researcher asked for permission to record each mailing. Fifteen questionnaires were returned, and interview, with the interviews lasting approximately the validity, reliability, and clarity of wording or 1 to 2 hours. The selection of the interview place phrases were examined. The pre-test process took depended on each candidate. about one month to be completed. Cronbach’s alpha for reliability with respect to Data Analysis questions 24 through 38 for the pre-test questionnaire Data analysis in this study involves both the data was .7643. Although the total number of obtained through the questionnaire and the questionnaires returned was small (only 15 for the information from individual interviews. The pre-test process), the data obtained was still of value questionnaire data were analyzed on the basis of the to the researcher. Only the questions about com- personal and political backgrounds of the subjects, pliance-gaining strategies were pre-tested for their their campaign demographics, and campaign reliability because interval scales were employed communication strategies. The data from individual with these questions. The other questions were not interviews were analyzed in order to probe meanings examined for reliability because they employed underlying each candidate's chosen strategies. nominal scales. The researcher adjusted unclear The data that the researcher collected from the wording or phrases with respect to some questions survey questionnaire was at the nominal level with and also changed the 7-point Likert scale to a 5-point respect to some topics and at the interval level in Likert scale. Due to the limitation of time and the other areas. The data from questions 1 to 23 involved number of candidates involved in the campaign, nominal level responses because they dealt with the after making those adjustments in the survey campaign demographics and types of campaign questionnaire, the researcher mailed the corrected communication strategies used by the respondent questionnaire to the remaining 253 candidates (268 candidates of the present study. The researcher used candidates minus 15 from the pre-test process) who the SPSS/PC+ program to examine the descriptive had run for an office for the Bangkok City Council in statistics to summarize the demographic data and the the 1998 election campaign. data from questions 1 through 23. Chi-squares (χ2) were employed to examine the Data Collection similarities and/or differences of the employment of Initially, only 20-30 percent of the question- the political campaign communication strategies of naires were returned. A follow-up questionnaire with the winning versus the losing candidates and the a revised cover letter was then mailed to those affiliated party versus independent candidates. individuals who had not yet returned a completed Inferential statistics were employed to draw questionnaire. The process took about one and a half conclusions and inferences about the data from months. Eventually, 130 completed questionnaires questions 24 through 38. These questions yielded were returned, for a response rate of 51%. Cron- interval level data. That practice was followed in this bach’s alpha was computed for these questionnaires research. MANOVA was used to “assess group and was an acceptable .8111. differences across multiple metric dependent The researcher selected the interview sample by variables simultaneously” (Hair, Anderson, & using a convenience sampling method. This approach Tatham, 1987, p.147). The dependent variables of was necessary because of problems encountered with this study were 15 dimensions of compliance-gaining contact information (addresses and phone numbers) strategies while the independent variables were obtained from the Governing Department of the 50 winning candidates versus losing candidates, and districts in Bangkok, Thailand. The researcher affiliated party candidates versus independent obtained the winners' telephone numbers from candidates. The researcher set the alpha level for this Bangkok Metropolitan Journal, June, 1998, the study at .05. journal produced by the Public Relations Depart- The information gathered from individual ment, Bangkok Metropolitan Office. The researcher interviews was analyzed in terms of thematic also obtained some candidates' addresses and tele- comparisons between the winning and losing phone numbers during information gathering trips to candidates. The themes were divided into five aspects: some of the candidates’ districts. Eventually, the the candidate’s general campaign strategies prior to a researcher was able to interview three winning run for a seat; the candidate’s campaign strategies candidates: 2 males, and 1 female. Six male losing employed during the campaign period; the candidate’s candidates were also interviewed. perceptions of the opponent’s campaign strategies; the The researcher conducted interviews with some methods the candidate employed to respond to the candidates while waiting for the questionnaires to be opponent’s message; and the impact of the political sent back. The interviewees were free to account for party/group on the candidate’s campaign strategies.

RESULTS campaign in 1998. The amount of money the Demographic Information Analysis respondents spent on their campaigns was different. While the desire was to employ the full popu- That is, about one-fifth of the respondents spent less lation of 268 candidates for the 1998 Bangkok City than 50,000 baht, followed by from 300,001-350,000 Council election as participants in this research, at baht and then more than 350,000 baht (with 17% the time of the research, two candidates were each). deceased and six had moved away from Bangkok. The respondents of this study spent time on Ultimately, the researcher received 130 completed campaigning differently. Overall, more than half of questionnaires out of the 253 questionnaires that the respondents (54%) spent less than one year on were distributed. Of the 130 respondents, all campaigning. parties/groups sending candidates to run for a seat in Every respondent of this study responded to the the 1998 election were represented. All candidates question of whether they employed door-to-door from one party and one group responded to the campaign or not. Not all of them used it. More than survey questionnaire: Muanchon Party and Pattana- half of the respondents (55%) reported that they bangkhuntien Group. spent more than 30 days on door-to-door 87% of the survey respondents were men while campaigning. However, there were 5% of the 13% were women. Of the male respondents to the respondents who reported that they have never survey, 23% won their election bid while 77% had employed door-to-door campaign strategy in 1998 lost. Of the female respondents, 47% won their campaign. election bid while 53% had lost. Most of the respondent candidates (77%) When classified by the level of education, more indicated that they assessed their initial popularity than half of the respondents (52%) graduated with a within their constituencies prior to making decision bachelor degree or above, followed by those who got to run for a seat in 1998 campaign. Almost one- high school level (20%), and then vocational level fourth (23%) responded that they did not evaluate (19%). their popularity before running their campaigns. The The candidate’s career at the time of the election. most frequent technique the candidates employed to Approximately half of the respondents (49%) listed assess their popularity within their constituencies was themselves as businessmen. About one-third (31%) checking with local leaders of the constituency. were politicians, journalists, ex-bureaucrats, medicine More than half (60%) of the respondent man, lecturers, agriculturists, dentists, disc jockeys, candidates had previously run for a seat whereas 40% and doctors. The others were lawyers (12%), of them had never run for a seat. academicians, and housewives (with 4% each). Most of the respondent candidates (79%) were Campaign Communication Strategies involved in politics prior to seeking a position on the The researcher focuses this section on the results Bangkok City Councilor in 1998. of the campaign communication strategies employed Almost half of the respondent candidates (47%) by the 1998 Bangkok City Council candidates in spent from 1 to 6 months on making decision to their campaigns. The presentation of this section is campaign for a seat. divided into two major parts: general activities of campaign communication strategies and compliance- Campaign Demographic Data gaining strategies. This section examines the campaign demo- General activities of campaign communication graphic data of the 1998 Bangkok City Councilor strategies deal with the candidates’ employment of candidate respondents. The researcher presents the newspaper advertisement and other forms of adver- data in terms of the number of staff working on the tisement, public speaking, debate, and interpersonal candidates' campaign; the budget they spent on communication activities. These activities are campaigning; the number of days each candidate presented in the same table. spent campaigning; the number of days the Most of the respondent candidates (83%) did not candidates spent with the door-to-door campaigns; employ newspaper advertisement while almost all of the candidates' initial assessment of their popularity them (92%) indicated that they used other types of among their constituencies; and whether the printed or mass media advertisements. For example, candidates had ever run for a seat as a Bangkok City the respondents mostly used mobile car (82%), poster Council prior to the 1998 campaign. The results of (81%), small card (76%), leaflet (75%), and banner each aspect of the campaign demographic data are (75%). illustrated respectively in the following paragraphs. Furthermore, the respondent candidates mostly Every respondent of this study indicated that used the information from the polls to direct their they had people on their campaign staffs. The campaigns (82%), participated in public speaking number of people on their campaign staffs varied. (75%), and in debates with other candidates (65%) Candidates who participated in any political during their campaigns in 1998. campaign have to spend money on their campaign. In terms of interpersonal communication Every respondent had also spent money during the activities, the data indicate that the respondents

mostly met with local groups in their constituencies opportunity to help people to solve their problems, (91%), attended community events such as not to draw on other benefits from working as a wedding ceremonies (92%), and employed Bangkok City Council. Another losing candidate said door-to-door campaigning (95%). that he also spent as little money as possible on In terms of the employment of compliance- campaigning. For example, he used a mobile car to gaining strategies of Marwell & Schmitt's schema advertise his candidacy by asking his son to drive a (1967), the respondent candidates indicated that they car for him while he delivered speeches from his car. used the following strategies: Positive Expertise, Liking, Pregiving, Moral Appeal, Positive Self- The Campaign Strategies Used by the feeling, and Altruism. Candidate’s Opponents When being asked about the opponents' The Campaign Strategies the Candidates campaign strategies, one winning male candidate Chose during the Campaign answered that many opponents used a door-to-door All winning candidates primarily employed campaign, mobile cars, and distributed leaflets. In his door-to-door campaigns, presented themselves in view, these strategies were ethical because campaign terms of their sincerity and their suitable strategies should focus on presenting the qualifications for the Bangkok City Council. They qualifications of the candidates and that information sought to establish the image of someone who, if was displayed in the above-mentioned artifacts. elected, was willing to work for the people in their However, he did not like the rumors his opponents constituency. One candidate said that he chose this employed to attack other candidates in the same strategy because of the types of people in his constituency. He said that this kind of strategy was constituency. Specifically, the people in his unethical because the candidates should focus their constituency could be divided into two groups in campaigns on how to solve the problems of the terms of their economic status: about 70% of them people rather than attacking other candidates. were rich, and the other 30% were quite poor. The The other winning male and female candidates other winning male candidate chose the strategy of a said that the candidates in their constituency did not door-to-door campaign because this approach attack one another. Instead, each candidate ran afforded him an opportunity to tell the people who he his/her campaign by saying politely only what he/she was and what he could do for the constituency. He would do for the constituency. The winning male hoped that the people would accept him as one of candidate also claimed that this is an ethical way of them. This candidate also met with people who know campaigning. Nevertheless, they mentioned that him very well and had worked with him while he was some candidates employed unethical strategies, such the leader of the community, asking for their co- as asking influential people in the constituency (some operation to pass his message to other people in their policemen, government officers, and“young bloods”) community. Additionally, he distributed leaflets and to help them force people to vote for them. employed posters with information about himself. Additionally, some candidates bought votes from the The female winning candidate also employed door- voters in the constituency. The winning male to-door campaigns and distributed the artifacts while candidate stressed that he did not buy votes during walking to see the people in her constituency. In the campaign. addition, she delivered speeches in the public area of If the opponents attacked the candidates by the constituency and attended the community events presenting a message focusing on the bad points of if invited. their opponents, all winning candidates said that they In terms of the strategies in the 1998 Campaign did not engage in similar attacks. The interviewees Election, all the male losing candidates reported claimed that they presented correct information and having employed door-to-door campaigns; focused on the past good deeds so that people could distributed leaflets and their name cards; met as compare their qualifications with their opponents' many groups of people in their constituencies as qualifications. In addition, one male winning possible; and tried to ask for constituents' telephone candidate said that he always met people in his numbers. They then called the night before the constituency whenever he had time, and people Election Day to persuade the voters to come out to always told him if they had a problem they wanted vote. Additionally, they talked with community him to solve. Consequently, people knew him quite committees and asked for their support by referring well. He added that the more the opponents attacked to the past help the candidates had rendered. The him, the greater his advantage. male losing candidates said that they chose these One of the losing candidates admired the fact strategies because they are campaign communication that his opponent had a lot of lobbyists in the strategies that the candidates could use to reach constituency to help in campaigning. That particular people directly in order to know what they thought opponent did not have to spend a lot of time each day about the candidates. One losing candidate said that in campaigning. However, some of the losing he had to choose the most economical campaign candidates said that their opponents employed strategy because he expected to be elected to have an unethical strategies, such as vote-buying, and hiring

people to frighten candidates by shooting guns in the impact of a candidate’s sex on campaign front of the candidate's house. One of the losing strategies. This topic is analyzed in the following candidates told the researcher that his opponents did paragraph. not use messages to attack him, instead the opponents said only what they would do in the future for the The Impact of a Candidate's Sexual Identity constituency. on Campaign Strategies Two male winning candidates claimed that a The Impact of a Candidate's Political Party candidate's sex did not affect their campaign or Group on the Campaign Strategies strategies because both males and females have to All winning candidates who were interviewed help each other in order to succeed in solving were affiliated with a political group. But they said problems. One male winning candidate further said that their political group did not have much influence that it is difficult to say whether males or females are on their campaign strategies. One male candidate more suitable for a seat. Furthermore the male said that his group set policy. However, he was still winning candidate stated that males can do some free to campaign as he saw fit. Nevertheless, this work that females cannot while females can do some group also helped in campaigning by giving him a work that males cannot. These two candidates budget to spend on the media for radio, television, employed the same campaign communication and newspaper advertising. strategies and did not worry about the opponent's sex. Another male winning candidate told the Only one losing male candidate said that female researcher that his party let him campaign freely. candidates affected his campaign strategies. This However, he designed the campaign in accordance candidate argued that the voters would pay more with the party’s policies because he agreed with the attention to a female candidate than a male candidate party policies. He also acknowledged that party because the voters would be more interested in the policy could change over time, with the situation, and female's campaign and image as a good, Thai-style with changes in society. woman. Another losing male candidate told the The female winning candidate said that key researcher that the candidates in his constituency person who helped her get elected was the Bangkok know each other very well because most of the Governor because of the good deeds he always did candidates were born in the constituency. So they for people in Bangkok during the election time. campaigned by not interfering with each other. The All of the losing male candidates said that their other two losing candidates said that sex did not political party or group affected their campaign affect their campaign strategies. strategies, though three candidates were not affiliated with any party or group. One independent candidate CONCLUSION said that the candidates who were affiliated with a This study investigated Thai political campaign party or group would be better off than independent communication strategies in terms of the strategies candidates because the parties would organize groups the winning versus the losing candidates and the of campaign teams to assist the candidates. However, affiliated party versus independent candidates in one male losing candidate told the researcher that Bangkok employed. The researcher selected the 1998 though the candidate was affiliated with the political Bangkok City Councilor election because (1) at the party or group, this does not mean that he/she would time of the research, this was the most recent local be elected. The candidate will be elected depending election campaign in Thailand; (2) the results of the on the influence of the political party/group in that 1998 election would be important as the winning constituency. Two affiliated losing candidates added candidates from each party or group could be the that the impact of the parties or groups on their bases for the national election campaign of 2000; (3) campaign strategies took place because the parties set Bangkok is the sociopolitical center of Thailand; and the party policy and the candidates had to design (4) there is no extant any research concerning their campaign strategies to be compatible with those Bangkok City Councilor candidates’campaign policies. In addition, the parties would send experts communication strategies. in designing campaign strategies to help the The researcher established 4 research questions candidates in implementing their campaigns. to unfold the communication campaign strategies and However, one affiliated losing candidate said that he Marwell & Schmitt's compliance-gaining strategies did not have to design and implement campaign schema. The research tools of the study consisted of strategies to follow his political party or group. a survey questionnaire and an interview guide Nonetheless, the party's policies were in accordance The questionnaire was pre-tested before being with his viewpoints on campaign strategies. mailed to 253 candidates. Eventually, 130 completed While interviewing the candidates, there were questionnaires were returned to the researcher. The candidates who mentioned the impact of a respondents included 113 men and 17 women; 34 of candidate’s sex on campaign strategies. the respondents won while 96 lost; 48 respondents Consequently, the researcher added another topic for are members of a political party while 82 candidates analysis from the interviewing process. That topic is listed themselves as independent. More than half of

the candidates (52%) possessed Bachelor degree or due to the Election law that the candidates can higher level of education. The respondents represented campaign after applying to run for a seat. However, various occupations, such as businessman, politician, some winning candidates spent more than 10 years journalist, lawyer, academician, and housewife, etc. Most on campaigning while only a few of the losing respondents had ever run for a seat prior to 1998 candidates spent the same amount of time Bangkok City Councilor campaign. campaigning. The analysis of interview information Before running for a position on the Bangkok can be used to support this point. For example, one City Councilor, about one half of the candidates winning candidate told the researcher that “ I was (47%) had spent from 1-6 months in making their born in this district. So I know the problem of my decision to enter the campaign. district very well. I try to convince other Councilors on Most candidates involved in politics prior to issuing the Educational Law in order to solve the drug running for the 1998 Bangkok City Councilor problem in my constituency. Another losing candidate campaign. Every respondents reported that they had told the researcher during the interview that “I was born people on their campaign staff but the number of in this district. I had been the local leader of my people varied. community. People always came to see me whenever Every respondent spent money on campaigning they need help even though now I am not their differently. As the data shown in Table 4.8, the community leader”. In other words, the candidates losing candidates reported having spent money less always help and present themselves to the public. By than the winning candidates did. Even though this way, they thought that they were campaigning. Election law limits spending to no more than 350,000 baht, there were both the winning (9%) and losing BIBLIOGRAPHY candidates (20%) who reported having spent more Anekjumnongporn, T., DiSanto, G., Ghetti, S., & than 350,000 baht. One-fourth of the losing Johnson, N. (1998). Campaigns for Lasor and candidates (25%) reported that they spent less than Hollister. Unpublished manuscript. 50,000 baht on their campaigns. This might be one Anuman-Rajadhon, T. (1994). Campaign techniques reason why the voters did not vote for them. In order of the Thai Members of Parliament in the 1988 to have a chance to be elected, the candidates must general elections. Unpublished doctoral disserta- become known among the voters. That is to say, the tion, Northern Illinois University, Illinois. candidates must spend a sum of money on planning Benoit, W.L., Pier, P.M., & Blaney, J.R. (1997, November). and implementing their campaigns. 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