The walk of shame to the presidency: The Romanian case

Voting is essentially a process based on people's emotional reactions to events and characters presented during election campaigns, as well as during the time period between campaigns. This chapter discusses the way shame can be turned into a political advantage during a presidential campaign. Shameful events disclosed during election campaigns about the candidates can have a severe impact on voting. However, with the aid of a smart public relations campaign, and significant media "help", shame can elicit a boomerang effect that will eventually only help the candidate on his way towards winning the election. This might be accomplished by means of staging victimization of the candidate, followed by constant denial of the facts during the days following the disclosure. This chapter presents a case study from the 2009 Romanian presidential campaign. The incumbent (and future) president walked the walk of shame during the presidential election and managed to turn it to his advantage, eventually leading him to re-election as president for a second term. A special focus is placed on the role of the media in turning the walk of shame into a political strategy to help the candidate win the campaign.