Impressions
The COVID Campaign by Dr . Stephen T . Radack III , Editor
One of the many additional challenges for any candidate running for an office during the COVID-19 global pandemic was traditional person-to-person campaigning to get your message out to the voters .
As I had noted in a previous column , we all saw the differences in philosophy of the candidates and the attitude of attendees at the campaign rallies for the two presidential candidates in 2020 . President Trump still held huge rallies with thousands of people , definitely not social distancing , with some wearing masks and some not , while his opponent , now President Biden , held mostly low key “ drive-in rallies ,” with attendees sitting on hay bales and definitely social distancing .
Last February when the candidates for PDA president-elect and ADA trustee first submitted their names for your consideration , COVID-19 was something we read about in the paper or saw a story about on the news , but it had not touched us in the U . S . yet , or at least we had thought it hadn ’ t . Soon we would all be heading out across the state to local and district dental meetings to meet and greet our colleagues , give our “ speech ” and have a chance to answer your questions and distinguish ourselves from one another . We have all been to a district or local meeting , or even a PDA or ADA meeting , where the candidates for elective office make their in-person presentations . Not that a threeminute speech and a Q & A can make a significant difference , but I always felt it gave me a chance to see how that person reacts to the group spontaneously and actually hear what they had to say rather than read it on a brochure .
In March , the candidates who had announced their intention to run for office attended the Greater Philadelphia Valley Forge Dental Conference . This wasn ’ t a true campaign event , but an opportunity to meet many of our colleagues from not only the Second District , but the entire eastern half of the state . It gave the candidates an opportunity to put up a campaign poster and have their first “ coming out ” of the 2020 campaign season . You could shake a few hands and have a chance to let members know your ideas and the experiences that you believed made you the person for the job .
The strange thing about that event was that COVID had already started to creep into the minds of the attendees , and instead of a handshake , you may have gotten a fist or elbow bump . The new pandemic greeting ! Less than two weeks later , our offices were shut down and the full impact of COVID-19 had hit the U . S ., soon to change every facet of our lives , including the 2020 campaign .
How would candidates be able to get our message out there ? One by one , all the dental meetings were cancelled and the in-person opportunities were gone . The announced candidates at that time , Drs . Nancy Rosenthal and Dennis Zabelsky ( PDA President-elect ) and Tom Gamba , Cary Limberakis and I ( ADA trustee ) met via Zoom on March 25 with PDA leadership as well as PDA Executive Director Ward Blackwell to discuss the campaign and our options . PDA would send out three campaign emails and each candidate would also be able to do a video “ speech ” that would be sent out and posted to our candidate profile page on the PDA website . I think everyone on that meeting had hoped by the fall the pandemic would be over and we might have the chance to “ hit the campaign trail !”
As the pandemic dragged on through spring and summer , every in-person meeting was canceled and in-person campaigning was not going to happen . The PDA Election Commission decided a Candidates Forum would be an electronic alternative to in-person campaigning . PDA membership was solicited for possible questions to ask the candidates . Every candidate would be asked the same three questions and given the opportunity to deliver a closing statement . PDA ’ s communications staff would edit the video so that the viewer would be able to hear each of the questions and each of the candidates answering the question one after the other . This was the case for the president-elect and ADA trustee candidates and then their closing statements .
On October 3 , the now six candidates ( Dr . Jim Boyle announced his candidacy in September ) traveled to the PDA Central Office in Harrisburg to record the video in person . On November 16 the link to the completed virtual forum was sent to every PDA member who had an email address on file . The 41-minute video recorded only 317 views on YouTube as of this writing . In addition to this video Q & A , each candidate submitted a half-page ad in the November / December issue of this Journal . The last piece of the campaign puzzle was our own three-minute video presentation . We had all agreed to a simple , non-professional video recorded on a phone . I recorded mine in my dining room with
MAY / JUNE 2021 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL 5