Nan Rich’s 2014 Florida Gubernatorial Campaign: A Case Study of Rhetorical Sensitivity By: Micole Kaye Undergraduate Honors Thesis Department of English, University of Florida April 12, 2015 Thesis Advisor: Dr. Ronald H. Carpenter, Department of English, University of Florida Second Reader: Dr. Judith Page, Department of English, University of Florida My dear friend and mentor, Senator Nan Rich, is an inspirational politician and person. Although she was unable to overcome obstacles she faced in the Democratic Primary, Rich and her campaign rhetoric deserve the following recognition and analysis. Senator Rich, for all your friendship, love, support, and blessings, I sincerely thank you. I truly appreciate all you invested in me. 1 In 2010, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals decided limiting campaign contributions violates Americans’ and corporations’ First Amendment Rights.1 Since then, individuals, corporations, and organizations have increased contributions dramatically. The most recent 2014 Midterm Elections were no exception; they cost more than any prior election in United States history. 2 Among the 2014 Midterms, the Florida Gubernatorial race stood out. Democrat former- Governor Charlie Crist challenged Republican incumbent Rick Scott during the most expensive election in Florida history and the costliest gubernatorial campaign in United States history.3 Combined, Crist and Scott spent over $104 million on television advertisements, 4 $13 million of which Scott personally contributed the week before Election Day.5 With 2016 elections approaching, big donors are readying checkbooks to contribute more than ever. Charles and David Koch have budgeted almost $1 billion to GOP candidates for the 2016 elections alone. 6 Even without the Koch brothers’ billion-dollar contribution, Crist and Scott had enough money to air character-bashing advertisements one after another. Media commentators assessed 1 Speechnow.org v. Federal Election Committee, 599 F.3d 686 (D.C. Cir. 2010) 2 Wilkie, Christina, “The 2014 Elections Will Cost $3.7 Billion. Here Are 9 Better Ways To Spend That Money.” Huffington Post. November 4, 2014. Accessed January 1, 2015. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/04/2014- election-spending n 6100894.html. 3 Dunkelberger, Lloyd. "Crist-Scott Race Is Nation's Costliest." Herald Tribune. October 3, 2014. Accessed March 17, 2015. http://politics.heraldtribune.com/2014/10/03/crist-scott-race-nations-costliest/. 4 Smith, Adam, Marc Caputo, and Mary Ellen Klas. "Gov. Rick Scott, Charlie Crist Make Final Push as Florida Governor's Race Nears End." Miami Herald. November 2, 2014. Accessed January 1, 2015. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article3516359.html. 5 Smith, Adam, Caputo, Marc. “How Rick Scott won re-election as Florida governor.” November 5, 2014. Accessed January 1, 2015. http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/how-rick-scott-won-re-election-as-florida governor/2205342. 6 Gold, Matea. "Koch-backed Network Aims to Spend Nearly $1 Billion Ahead of 2016 Elections, May Engage in GOP Primaries." Washington Post. January 26, 2015. Accessed February 2, 2015. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/koch-backed-network-aims-to-spend-nearly-1-billion-on-2016- elections/2015/01/26/77a44654-a513-11e4-a06b-9df2002b86a0 story.html. 2 an unpredictable race entirely dependent on voter turnout. This state election was so noticeable that one of its three televised debates was broadcasted nationally on CNN. 7 Some analysts thought increased contributions, airtime, and notoriety would increase voter turnout. However, 2014 elections saw the lowest turnout in seventy-two years: “In forty-three states, less than half the eligible population bothered to vote, and no state broke 60 percent” of voter turnout.8 Political experts wonder why people did not vote. Perhaps voters were not satisfied with the candidates. Perhaps voters were not satisfied with the mudslinging advertisements. Perhaps voters were looking for politicians who focused sights not on attacking each other but on improving their communities, their states, their country. Florida Governors Lawton Chiles and Bob Graham demonstrated they cared about everyday Floridians by walking a thousand miles and working days in others’ jobs. More recently, Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign vision of “Hope” inspired the largest voter turnout in more than forty years.9 These Democrats each ran successful campaigns, and proved that candidates with effective messages can overcome opponents with more funds. Rich watched strong Democratic leaders like Chiles and Graham govern. She knew, like them, she could make a difference in her community and state. She joined organizations like Kids in Distress, served as President for the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), Home Instruction Program for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), Resourcemobile, a program providing child-care resource units with proper developmental tools, and co-founded Miami- Dade County’s Guardian ad Litem Program. 7 “CNN and Florida's WJXT-TV to Host Florida Gubernatorial Debate." CNN Press Room. October 20, 2014. Accessed January 5, 2015. http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2014/10/20/cnn-and-floridas-wjxt-tv-to-host-florida- gubernatorial-debate/. 8 “The Worst Voter Turnout in 72 Years.” The New York Times. November 11, 2014. Accessed January 7, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/opinion/the-worst-voter-turnout-in-72-years html 9 "2008 Election Turnout Hit 40-Year High." CBSNews. December 15, 2008. Accessed March 3, 2015. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/2008-election-turnout-hit-40-year-high/ 3 After years of civic service, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz suggested Rich run for office. In 2000, Rich succeeded Wasserman-Schultz in the Florida House of Representatives, and again in the 2004 State Senate. In office, Rich founded the statewide Guardian ad Litem program, supported legislation for Foster Care, children aging out of Foster Care, Kidcare, Child Welfare, eliminating the ban on gay adoption, and illuminated issues including education, LGBT rights, and women’s rights and equality. In 2012, Rich termed-out of the State Senate, and realized her mission was not complete. She announced her candidacy for Governor. In May 2012, I joined Senator Rich’s campaign staff as an Intern and Aide. For the two years I worked for her, Rich personally mentored and befriended me. Thus, a year later when I asked permission to write my honors thesis on her campaign rhetoric, Rich immediately complied and contributed copies of her speeches. I. In a hallmark essay, Lloyd Bitzer states the first step in creating effective discourse is determining whether its content is appropriate for a situation.10 According to Bitzer, a rhetorical situation is an instance that requires, or has the potential to require, some type of response.11 To analyze this instance, we must examine what specific discourse is in response to, the significance a situation gives its rhetoric, the necessary condition of that discourse, how a specific rhetorical situation alters the reality of the situation, how a response fits a situation, and how a situation calls forth a response from a person or people “who are capable of being influenced by discourse 10 Lloyd Bitzer, “The Rhetorical Situation," Philosophy & Rhetoric 1, no. 1 (January 1968): 3. 11 Bitzer defines a rhetorical situation as “a complex of persons, events, objects, and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence which can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced into the situation, can so constrain human decision or action as to bring about the significant modification of the exigence.” 4 and of being mediators of change.” 12 Rhetorical audiences must exist for a situation to be rhetorical because “they have the power to constrain decision and action needed to modify the exigence.”13 Internal constraints include the speaker, his or her personal beliefs, ideologies, and physical limitations. External constraints are factors encompassing audience’s beliefs, state of mind during discourse, and physical and psychological environment. Rod Hart and Don Burks discuss techniques that most effectively influence audiences, if rhetoric indeed is appropriate. They deem people who employ these techniques “rhetorically sensitive.”14 Some politicians who communicate expressively “rant” their “strongest feelings” to get them “off their chest,” but those who communicate instrumentally serve to “achieve or move toward a goal.”15 Hart and Burks argue instrumental communication is more effective, because it focuses on the audience, rather than the speaker’s personal feelings. Thus, a rhetorically sensitive person is one who has five obligations to fulfill: accept role-taking as part of the human condition, avoid stylized verbal behavior, be characteristically willing to undergo the strain of adaptation, distinguish between all information and information acceptable for communication, and understand that an idea can be rendered in multi-form ways. 16 When doing so, communicators tend to conform to the identity of a group. Politicians who understand this can gain overall audience support even if its members do not support them individually because they speak freely, genuinely, and do not sound scripted, “superficial, or insincere.”17 Additionally, 12 Bitzer, 8. 13 Bitzer, 8. 14 Roderick Hart and Don Burks. "Rhetorical Sensitivity And Social Interaction." Communication Monographs 39, no. 2 (1972): 75-91. 15 Hart