Documentary Analysis: Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?

Among all types of movies, documentary is the one that I am least interested in.

However, the movie Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore gives me a different view

on documentary films, especially political ones. It is very relevant to the class readings

as well as discussions, especially on the topic of Congress, political campaign and civil

engagement.

First, the movie successfully demonstrates how a political campaign is

organized. In the movie, we hardly see a role of the Democrats and the Republic since here

is a race to Congress; Jeff Smith, Russ Carnahan and other candidates build their own

strategy, choose their own issues to focus on, and manage their own campaign

organizations. Those campaigns are described as candidate-centered campaigns. A

candidate-centered campaign is specialized into three different aspects: campaign funds,

organization and strategy, and voter contacts. And each of those features is colorfully

reflected in the movie. Because of the high cost of campaigns, fundraising plays a very

important role. Russ Carnahan whose father is a former governor and mother is a senator

has a financial advantage over other candidates when his family helps him to “nationally”

raise money. And it enables him to hire specialists from DC to organize his campaign. In

contrast, Jeff Smith has to knock every door and calls every number to ask for donation. His

staffs are mainly his former students and volunteers who have no previous campaign

experience. Another strategy used in both Carnahan and Smith’s campaigns is attack

politics. While Smith takes on the opponent by stating the fact that Russ has not done a

good job for the district, Russ uses a negative ad to spreads a rumor of a sexual relationship

between Smith and another candidate. In the movie, we also can observe many ways

candidates approach voters, such as the use of yard signs, public speeches, promotional