i learned so much from our trip to the museum today.  I had no idea that campaigning was not apart of process of electing a president.  Once the campaigning was put into play it completely changed the image of the political system.  the candidates were more relate able to the public, it also gave the people a chance to get more involved in the election project.  The people were wearing buttons and displaying posters of the candidate they supported for the first time ever.  Women were even wearing stockings with campaign slogans on them.  When the campaign process started it gave the public a new interest in politics.  It was so fascinating to see how this process began, because today you see campaign ads on TV year round.  When campaigning hit the airwaves with Kennedy and Nixon's debate it put a new spin on everything.  The image of the candidates became very important.  The public noticed all the imperfections in the candidates appearance.  I think that televised debates played a huge role in Kennedy win because people may have found him to be more personable, handsome, and charming then Nixon, who appeared sweaty, disheveled, and impatient TV.  Finally the development of TV campaign ads took the process another huge step forward.  I noticed that this was the point where a strong since of negativity and a little pettiness came into the picture.  Candidates calling each other old, others had their wives coming in to defend them, and low blow were flying.  It makes me wonder if TV campaign ads were a step forward after all.  It has become the number one tool used in candidates getting their message out, so it is very effective, but they also cause us all to loose focus on the real issues sometimes.  I mean the fact that a campaign can fail because the candidate can not spend millions of dollars on TV airtime is ridiculous.  i read today that a campaign will spend up to a billion dollars now.  The campaign process as has truly evolved into to a monster, but so has the political system so  guess it is fitting.  What a cool trip!!