Campaign Tips From Cicero

Essay

Renewing American Leadership

Barack Obama

After Iraq, we may be tempted to turn inward. That would be a mistake. The American moment is not over, but it must be seized anew. We must bring the war to a responsible end and then renew our leadership -- military, diplomatic, moral -- to confront new threats and capitalize on new opportunities. America cannot meet this century's challenges alone; the world cannot meet them without America.

Essay

Rising to a New Generation of Global Challenges

Mitt Romney

Washington is as divided on foreign policy as it has been at any point in the last 50 years. As the "greatest generation" did before us, we must move beyond political camps to unite around bold actions in order to build a strong America and a safer world. We must strengthen our military and economy, achieve energy independence, reenergize civilian and interagency capabilities, and revitalize our alliances.

Collection

Essays for the Presidency

While campaigning for the highest office in the land, presidential hopefuls and their advisers have turned to Foreign Affairs to publish essays laying out how they see the world. Here is a collection of those articles, grouped by election year.

In 64 BC, the great Roman lawyer and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero ran for consul, the highest office in the republic. Marcus was 42 years old, brilliant, and successful. But he was not a member of the nobility, and that would ordinarily have eliminated him from consideration. The other candidates that year were so unappetizing, however, that he had a chance of winning -- at least, thought his younger brother, Quintus, if Marcus could run a good campaign. At this time in Rome, any adult male citizen could cast a ballot, but voting was done in a complicated system of groups. The richest citizens had disproportionate power, social and political patronage was crucial, and campaigns were accompanied by some bribery and occasional violence, but the electoral process was orderly and usually reasonably fair. The Commentariolum Petitionis, or "Little Handbook on Electioneering," purports to be a memo written by Quintus to Marcus telling him how to proceed. Some scholars believe it is just that; others think it was written by another ancient writer. Either way, the author clearly knew a lot about Roman politics in the first century BC, which turn out to have a distinctly familiar feel. What follows are excerpts from a new translation of the Commentariolum by Philip Freeman, with some observations on its contemporary relevance by James Carville.

THE EDITORS

To my brother Marcus,

Although you already have all the skills a man can possess through natural ability, experience, and hard work, because of the affection we have for one another I would like to share with you what I have been thinking about night and day concerning your upcoming campaign. . . ...