It's hard to miss the political heavyweights and influential people stumping for Lee's candidacy.
Notable public figures such as President Chen Shui-bian (
"Some [pundits and Lee's supporters] have expressed uncertainty that we played the so-called `presidential card' too soon," Peng said, referring to the early and frequent exposure of Chen at Lee's campaign activities.
"However, we thought the move was needed to boost Lee's popularity among the Taipei public."
"President Chen's stumping for Lee will consolidate Lee's supporters," Peng said.
Peng added that former president Lee Teng-hui would most likely be stumping for Lee as well in the final week before the Dec. 7 election.
But Ma has, for the most part, avoided appearing with political heavyweights such as party chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) at his weekly campaign rallies.
"Due to the nature of the [non-conventional] approach we are taking with regard to staging campaigning rallies, these musical feast-like settings are not appropriate for political figures, that's why it might seem as if the political figures such as Lien and others have not been appearing at Ma's rallies," Wu told the Taipei Times.
"They [political heavyweights] do drum up support for Ma by showing up at other campaign activities such as the inauguration of Ma's numerous support teams," Wu said.
PFP spokesman Hsieh Kung-ping (
Seeking reelection, Ma's campaign slogan is "My future is not a dream" (我的未來不是夢); while Lee's slogan is "In Taipei" (讓台北IN起來), using words that play on the sound of his own name "Ying," pledged to develop Taipei into a strong city that is international, inclusive, innovative and intelligent.
While the election is, by nature, full of contingencies, the effectiveness of both camps' strategic campaigning will not be known until the votes are cast on Dec. 7th.
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