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FEATURE: Crocodile tears no longer guarantee sympathy votes *

　施正鋒

淡江大學公共行政學系暨公共政策研究所教授

By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Jan 10, 2008, Page 3


Crying, swearing, kneeling, finger-pointing, being hospitalized and filing lawsuits are all too familiar scenarios during election campaigns. But such campaign strategies may not necessarily work to a candidate's advantage.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yi-shih's (林益世) wife, Peng Ai-chia (彭愛佳), was attacked during a stumping tour on Tuesday and was rushed to hospital. While hospitalized, Peng accused her husband's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rival, Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲), of masterminding the attack.

In reaction, DPP legislative caucus whip Wang Tuoh (王拓) said during a press conference at the legislature yesterday that Lin's camp may have planned the attack to win sympathy votes.

"Why would I want to be attacked three days before [the election]? I'd rather be by my husband's side as he finishes his campaign tour than lying here. My fatty [Lin] has been on his own from dawn to dusk, I want to keep him company," Peng said, bursting into tears after hearing Wang's comments.

Meanwhile, Yu yesterday urged Lin not to manipulate an isolated incident of violence, while adding that his mother had also been hospitalized because she was so worried about his campaign.

"I think the candidates are making sensational appeals to attract sympathy votes," Tamkang University public administration professor Shih Cheng-feng (施正鋒) told the Taipei Times in a telephone interview.

"It has been an effective strategy to some degree in the past, but I don't believe it's still appealing to voters," he said. "It's not a normal phenomenon in a democratic country -- I think voters will gradually realize that and begin to look more at a candidate's policy agenda. As the tricks become `useless,' they will eventually die out."

Yang Hsiao-ying (楊曉盈), a voter in Taipei County, agreed with Shih.

"[Campaign tricks] will not affect how I vote," she said. "It's like I'm watching a soap opera when they show candidates or their spouses crying or kneeling on TV. Peng Ai-chia and Yeh Yi-jin's [葉宜津] tears were so fake."

Yeh is a DPP Legislator running for re-election in Tainan County. She was in tears as she denied an allegation by her KMT rival Hung Yu-chin (洪玉欽) last month that she was involved in an affair.

Yang, however, admitted that she was touched when Lu Hsiu-yi (盧修一) kneeled down before tens of thousands of people and begged them to support then-DPP Taipei County commissioner candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) the night before the election in 1997, "but that was a completely different scenario," she said.

Lu, a DPP lawmaker who had been preparing to run for Taipei County commissioner, withdrew from the race because he discovered he had terminal lung cancer.

Despite his bad health, Lu insisted on appearing at Su's campaign rally the night before the election. As he kneeled down to beg the crowd to support Su, many in the audience and in front of the TV were in tears.

Several later attempts to copy it proved unsuccessful.

"James Soong [宋楚瑜] kneeled down too, but he was unsuccessful -- We [voters] can feel if they are sincere," Yang said.

Soong did so in 2003 when he was preparing to run in the 2004 presidential election.

A legislative candidate's campaign official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that such strategies can still be more or less effective, "but it's tricky and not without risk."

"The effectiveness of `sympathy strategies' varies from district to district," he said. "Usually, it's less effective in districts where constituencies are better educated and sometimes it can actually hurt the candidate."

"You have to calculate carefully and apply the strategy in the right district at the right time," he said.
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