Rolling Stone's 2012 Campaign Essay

Rolling Stone’s Coverage of the 2012 U.S. Presidential Campaign
The U.S. presidential election of 2012 was held on 6 November 2012. Like in 1972, one of the candidates was running for re-election. But, in contrast to 1972, this was the candidate from another party. As Barack Obama had already served one presidential term, it was quite expected that he would win the Democratic campaign for the next election too. The 2012 Democratic campaign was thus not as vivid as it used to be in 1972. Obama was predictably announced a Democratic presidential nominee at the Democratic National Convention, which took place on 3-6 September 2012. The 2012 Republican campaign included several candidates with more or less equal nomination chances. The most successful

presidential campaign has demonstrated how convergent the contemporary politics and popular culture are. In today’s American society, popular culture turns out to be inseparable from a myriad of campaign events, which at a first glance seem to be purely political. During the 2012 campaign, popular culture was present everywhere: from the primaries, conventions and debates to the campaign advertising in the media. Each candidate running for presidency in the USA in 2012 could find the reverberations, amplifications and articulations of his or her personality within various cultural and mediated venues. The campaign of 2012 has thus become a nationwide cultural event, in which activities such as debates and commercials are “simply contributing agents to the extended performance of lengthy civic ritual that is made meaningful by an array of industrial and personal engagements taking place within daily cultural life” (Denton 116). In today’s 24/7 media-saturated world, there is practically no separation between action and reaction, whether among candidates, media creators, or citizens. Under such conditions, the 2012 campaign was treated in the American society not only as a political event, but also as a cultural event. Traditional campaign events and activities have become integrated with popular