With the legislative election battle reaching boiling point with less than a week to go, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) "big guns" engaged in non-stop campaigning around the country yesterday to stump for their prospective legislative candidates.
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who doubles as DPP chairman, was shaking hands and working the crowd in Taoyuan, Taichung and Miaoli yesterday morning. He then showed up at campaign rallies in Chunghua in the evening.
Other pan-green heavyweights such as DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), his running mate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) also criss-crossed the nation stumping for their party's legislative hopefuls.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
The pan-blue camp's big guns also spent the last Sunday before the legislative poll on Saturday gearing up support for the KMT's legislative candidates.
Former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰), who had not made many public appearances recently, has been on a tight campaign schedule for the past few days. He campaigned yesterday for five candidates in Pingtung and Kaohsiung, constituencies which are considered DPP strongholds.
KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (
PHOTO: HUANG PO-LANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Later yesterday, Ma was at a campaign rally in Kaohsiung County while KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) was campaigning for a KMT candidate in Chiayi.
Ma said candidates from all around the nation had urged him to campaign for them ahead of the election.
KMT legislative caucus leader Kuo Su-chun (郭素春), an at-large candidate in this year's race, has been attending rallies around the country for fellow KMT candidates and said appearances by Ma have been an asset to their campaigns.
While candidates could judge for themselves how many votes the big names would be worth in their constituencies, Kuo said that from her experience "most KMT candidates believe the charismatic Ma appeals to the voters and they want to capitalize on it."
Lin Tsang-min (林滄敏), an incumbent KMT lawmaker locked in a tight battle in Changhua County, was one of those hoping to benefit from Ma's presence.
He said he has found that his campaign gets a real boost when Ma arrives in the county and stumps on his behalf.
Leveraging support from "Mr or Ms Popular" is becoming one of the most favored campaign tactics in this election. The "populars" are the political stars seen to be capable of livening up campaign platform presentations, fueling election battles and adding votes for the candidates they support.
For the pan-green camp, Government Information Office Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) is considered the most effective "Mr Popular."
DPP Legislator Chuang Suo-hang (
Chuang's comments were echoed by DPP Legislator Sandy Yen (
Other pan-green "populars" include Hsieh, Su and former vice premier Tsai Ing-wen (
Among them, Hsieh's quick wit and humor is quite popular with the candidates, making him the runner-up behind Shieh, Chuang said. President Chen and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) are also popular star campaigners for their high fame and strong speeches, Chuang added.
DPP Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (
But not all candidates favored the political stars as their campaign stumpers.
DPP Legislator Huang Chao-hui (
Three years ago, when Huang ran for legislator, Chen Ling-li promised voters she would devote her full attention to helping her husband and give up her seat on the council should Huang be elected, Huang said.
To this day, Chen Ling-li's grassroots work with the voters during her term as councilor still offers Huang tremendous help, for which he is extremely grateful, he said.
KMT Legislator Shyu Jong-shyoung (徐中雄), who is seeking re-election in Taichung County, also said that he did not need the help of a star campaigner. Of course, he may feel a little less pressure -- the DPP failed to nominate anybody to oppose him.
One KMT candidate, who asked to remain anonymous, said he did not want party heavyweights campaigning by his side because they would manipulate partisan divisions and emphasize the "pan-green" versus "pan-blue" divide.
There were also mixed feelings in the pan-green camp toward having the big names appear on stage.
Under the old system of multi-representative districts, appealing to one's core support base was sufficient to win a seat. In this year's legislative polls, however, candidates are generally engaged in two-horse races where independent voters could decide their fates. They were voters who were likely to be less impressed by the endorsement of party heavyweights engaging in partisan rhetoric.
DPP candidate Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲), in a tight race against incumbent Non-Partisan Solidarity Union candidate Lee He-shun (李和順) in Tainan County, felt that with the DPP's historical strength in southern Taiwan, President Chen and other party heavyweights should attend more rallies there in order to energize the DPP's core support base.
Huang said he did not worry that the president's speeches might drive away centrist voters because he had plenty of campaigning experience and knew what he should or should not say.
On the other hand, incumbent DPP lawmaker Chiu Chuang-chin (
Chiu said star campaigners were useful in boosting a campaign team's morale, intimidating opponents and giving voters the impression that the candidate had a wide range of supporters, but that they do not necessarily win more votes.
Additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling and Flora Wang
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
RSS