Suspend vs. End a Campaign

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, this is Dave Tyler from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I trust you’re doing well today.

We are doing very well. I trust you’re doing well as well.

Oh, you bet I am.

Well, that’s great.

Dave, what would you like to talk with us about?

Well, you know, I’ve been hearing, and I can’t really get away from all of the campaign things that are going on,

And I just wonder, every time I hear a candidate who comes up and decides they’re done,

They tell us that they’re suspending their run for office.

You know, when I’m done with work and I don’t want to work anymore, then I tell my boss I quit.

So how do these candidates get by with telling us they’re suspending their campaign?

They’re not suspending, they’re done.

Aren’t they?

Or is there another way to use the word suspend that I don’t know?

That’s a good question.

Your idea is that maybe they’re just wimps and they just won’t admit that they’re quitters.

Yes.

Yeah, or maybe they’re career politicians and we haven’t seen the last of them, you know?

That’s never the case.

Well, what they’re really hoping is that a meteor will strike down all the other candidates and they can reactivate their campaign, right?

I’m still here.

Yeah.

Oh, that’s really interesting.

Well, I think of suspending military operations.

You know, the word campaign itself goes back to the idea of a military campaign.

And does it have to do with that?

There’s something similar to that.

When an election campaign is suspended, it’s a particular bit of language that they use to meet federal elections commission’s requirements.

If they stop their campaign, they can no longer get federal matching funds if they’re running for president.

They can no longer handle debts a certain way.

They can no longer fundraise for the most part.

And a lot of times they have bills that they still need to pay.

A lot of fundraising takes place after the campaign is suspended in order to pay off existing payroll and debts to printers and media outlets where there are commercials.

Supposedly, Hillary Clinton is still paying.

Her campaign is still paying off the debts from her 2008 run for office.

Wow.

So her campaign is technically suspended in order to get all these benefits that come from not actually being a campaign that’s been terminated.

So it’s an actual term of art.

Well, actually, it’s not a term of art.

They choose suspended because the word suspended or suspend or suspension is not in the FEC rules for this.

So they choose to say suspended because there are no legal ramifications for suspension.

It’s simply a notice to the press and public that their campaign is going to lie low.

Oh, wow.

See what I’m saying?

If they said that our campaign is terminated, then there might be legal ramifications.

This is what I understand.

Dave, I was thinking it was sort of disingenuous.

Honestly, that’s kind of the way I took it.

Yeah.

Well, a lot of it’s doing things like, you know,

How are they going to get rid of all those Kane 2012 shirts, you know?

They’ve got to find some way.

There’s a guy in the office who’s calling people up,

You want one of these?

It’s only $9.99.

Again, to kind of rehash,

There’s a reason that they would say suspended,

And it’s not about being a wuss.

I did not realize that.

Well, that’s awesome.

Thanks for answering that.

Sure, no problem.

Thanks for calling.

Thanks for listening, too.

You betcha.

Take care.

Love the show.

All right, bye-bye.

Bye, Dave.

I should say here that if you really want to see the inside

And all the wishy-washy stuff that has to do with political language,

William Sapphire’s Political Dictionary is still the best source of that.

If a word has caught your ear, call us about it, 877-929-9673,

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