By Angela Agoawike
The use of biographies for election campaigns date back
decades.
Sometimes written in a hurry, a campaign biography gives
highlights of the candidate’s life, introduces him to the voting public and so
doing, gives an insight into his aspiration to the highest office in the
land.
The importance of a presidential campaign ‘biography’ is
underlined by among others, the setting up of libraries to look for such books
and store them for posterity, just like the Clarke Library of the Central
Michigan University in the USA has done since the early 1960s.
Many politicians, such as former American President Jimmy Carter
released campaign biographies. As a little-known governor of the American State
of Georgia, Why Not The Best? was published in 1976, during his quest for
the American presidency. It was his introduction to Americans beyond
Georgia.