Put yourself in an election candidate's shoes

With the election now well and truly under way, candidates are in full campaign mode. They are busily criss-crossing their constituencies – switched on, smiling, suited and booted, shaking hands, saying what they think people want to hear.

That stereotypical image of the politician is profoundly off-putting in our culture these days. As a result of it, nobody cuts politicians much of a break, even including most of those who will actually vote for them. People vote for their politician, but they do not like politicians in general. The profession and the practice of ‘politics’ has become a shorthand for shady, something to be distrusted and disparaged.

That sentiment will fill ears between now and election day. There will be a lot of eye-rolling when candidates are discussed. Before long, we will hear people say that they wish it was all over. People will tell each other how much they dislike the posters and ask why do they need them anyway? The attempts by politicians to get noticed will be frowned upon. Conversations will be full of talk of auctions and empty promises and all the rest. ‘You only see them at election time’ will be a sentiment that is heard even more often than commentary on the weather.

That’s what will unfold for us over the coming weeks. Some of those attitudes aren’t new, but the intensity and tone is certainly different, even without considering the threats and intimidation so many politicians experience nowadays.

With that context, it’s a worthwhile exercise to consider these next few weeks from the point of view of a politician. They are all smiling and upbeat on the surface, but what does it feel like to be a candidate?

The answer is, it’s hard. And despite being out there every day, meeting hundreds of people, it’s at times lonely. Being a politician is the most extrovert profession there is. And not every candidate is an extrovert. Some people say they like it, even thrive on it, but even when their personality suits it, it is hard and tiring and often exhausting.

Knocking on doors, and constantly putting yourself forward is a really tough thing to do. A little thought experiment might help us understand it.

Imagine having to walk into a room full of people you barely know. Your job in that room is to shake hands and make a connection with every one of them. Many of them expect you to know them, and many will be offended if you don’t remember their name – they will certainly not be pleased if you call them the wrong one. So what do you say when you shake hands with someone and you are not a hundred per cent sure?

A good portion of the people you are meeting will have had something significant happen in their lives in recent months – a promotion, a wedding, a funeral. Imagine the pressure that comes from needing to remember that – over and over. That would be tough enough if the room was all smiles, but as you move around the room you notice that many people are rolling their eyes when they look over at you. It is apparent that some of them are only waiting to give out yards to you. Are you being paranoid if you have brought a change of clothes in case someone throws something all over you? Who should accompany you to protect you and what will people say about their presence? Regardless of all those things in your head, you have got to keep going until you have tried to shake every hand.

Now, repeat that exercise every day, for three weeks. And that is only one part of what is expected of a candidate between now and election day.

The good and experienced candidate knows they need some valve where they can release some of that mental strain and catch their breath. These candidates know that a campaign is a marathon and not a sprint. If they run fast and make lots of impressions but they are the wrong ones, they are doing themselves no favours.

Being able to do that is a lot easier for an incumbent, a sitting TD or an established councillor, and especially if they have been working hard. If the work isn’t done in advance of a campaign, it is very hard to catch up during it. Politicians who have been working hard over the previous years use an election campaign to gather up their votes. That is why incumbents have an advantage over new candidates. They also have another – they have had the opportunity to grow the thick hide that you need for it.

Without that, a politician can find themselves pulled from one emotion to the other over and over. That is both tiring and a place where it is hard to make good decisions.

And they have to make those decisions all the time. What do I say if I didn’t hear the person properly? Am I certain that the number I am about to quote is accurate? Should I defend this position of my party even though I don’t want to? Will it be a headline if I don’t?

If they are a party candidate, they also have to learn the main policies of their party – at least enough to be able to talk about them. If they have running mates, there will be a lot of energy burned up by the rivalries, but of course that can inject the energy both candidates need to get elected. Turf wars win votes. But in the white heat of an election campaign, can they be sure that is what is actually happening?

Independents, on the other hand, have to be prepared to say something plausible on all the major issues without having all the briefing notes and information that the parties share with their candidates.

Every candidate will have to prepare for at least a few media interviews. For candidates who are not used to these, they can be terrifying. Even the experienced ones will find them challenging. One mis-step or mis-speak on one of those and they can undo the work of hundreds if not thousands of conversations. Worse, they can open themselves to the possibility of ridicule. And that is before they look at their phone (they all do) and read all that is on social media.

An experienced politician will have to be in Dublin at least once during the campaign to front up their party’s launch of one policy or another. Get something wrong on that and the whole party will criticise them. And you know well that spending time on RTÉ talking about ‘policy’ will not win a politician many votes in the west of Ireland.

That is why they need to ensure that all the client work that is generated is responded to and moved along, but the candidate can’t spend all their time on this – for this is hard work.

And while the candidate has to do and manage all that, they have to keep the campaign team around them motivated. On bad and tough days they have to pick them up. This is why every politician knows that the few key people around them are jewels without price. Such people – often times literally – have their back. Over the next few weeks, all candidates will need them.