When Edward Snowden wasn’t getting the traction he wanted within internal Washington regarding his concerns to national privacy, he went to the press and enlisted the support of the American public behind him. Whistleblowing draws a crowd to the source of the disruption, and in election years, crowds draw votes. Quantity oversteps quality in the world of politics where the number of votes, not the quality of voters is king. Politicians will use their stature and access to the media to introduce and thus control a topic, manipulate their image to overstate their contributions or worth, and express their unique opinions on issues to monopolize a demographic. Tuning into The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer or Special Report with Bret Baier or PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton only gives the viewer the image of final results and selected pieces of the process that were chosen for coverage for an advantageous reason behind the scenes, whether that be for the individual in focus or their enemies.

Tom Cotton, the freshman junior senator from Arkansas with a picture-perfect background, wrote a letter to the Iranian government that pertained to the upcoming nuclear-arms arrangement as well as relations with Israel. The key point of this personal message being that it completely contradicts and undermines the President’s plan that is already in motion. Having a differing opinion is not a crime in the world of politics, but Cotton took it one step too far by publicly expressing his belief that the head of our nation is incompetent and that the nation should pursue a path in his party’s name, not in the direction of the administration. His tenacity and eagerness to associate himself with a stance on a topic is admirable considering that he is, in fact, a politician. He isn’t bashful about this quality, to be clear, as he has defended his actions on CBS, NBC, Fox News, and given sources like Politico, the New York Times, and CNN a piece of his mind and then some. His impatience to take the spotlight draws criticism from folks in D.C., such as Retired Major General Paul Eaton who sees his recent endeavors as nothing more than “a gross breach of discipline” and that is “extremely dangerous” to the United States’ foreign diplomacy policy. Cutting through the chain of command in the pursuit of self-promotion and adding press to his party’s platform were not tactics taught in Army veteran’s basic training.

His method of spotlight-seeking is of the pre-emptive breed, as he is not on the official radar for candidacy in 2016. As he is new in the political scene, it can’t be said whether or not his controversial, lone-wolf efforts are to establish a platform in greater stages to come, or to gather support and thus job security from his conservatively-minded voters back in the Razorback state. Or, to give Senator Cotton the benefit of the doubt, he truly could have a vested interest in the nation’s foreign policy. Time will tell.

Ted Cruz, the slick haired Texan senator with a knack for tea parties and strong opinions, was the leading proponent for the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security by urging his party to suspend the department’s funding until a plan that cut out the new immigration reforms enacted by the President’s November executive order was created. Unlike Senator Cotton, Cruz has declared his candidacy for 2016 and has an obvious stake in his image’s power. The general perception of bureaucracy is that officials will tread the line of neutrality on any given subject in order to avoid offending any and all possible voters. The senator, on the other hand, declared his candidacy at Liberty University, a well-known conservative, Christian college, and has been a staunch proponent for all things to the rightest right of the political right. Cruz loves to share his thoughts whether it be through social media, interviews, articles, blogs, conventions, or radio, but the one place he seems to find trouble making time for is the Senate itself. As a staunch opponent of the US’ current defense policy, Cruz has only attended three of the past sixteen Senate Armed Forces Committee meetings that he’s had the opportunity to attend. He is the only member of the committee with an attendance rate lower than 50%, although he publicly maintains arguably the most adamant views on the subjects at hand. The senator displays great ambition in the political field, but his focus on his appearance to the voters and donors leaves little time for applying his outspoken beliefs towards practical use in the elected office he holds.

Cruz’s method of merit to his supporters is that of theory and appearance. The Texan doesn’t have an outstanding record of accomplishment or experience in his corner, yet he is a possible, albeit unlikely, GOP presidential nominee. His appeal is similar to that of what the President used in his 2008 campaign, though the Canadian-born Cruz is by no means Barack Obama in terms of style and poise, nor does he have the party support that the Illinois Senator conjured during his run. Speaking of a smooth talker…

Dr. Ben Carson, the neurosurgeon-turned-presidential-hopeful, has a way with words. Now, before the list of contingencies begins, it needs to be said that Dr. Carson is a brilliant man when it comes to the scalpel and his writing has had a tremendous acceptance throughout the nation, but he is not prepared for the office he so ambitiously threw himself towards. Carson has made a few verbal fumbles on his path to 2016, but his followers remain loyal nonetheless. To be fair, his crowd typically finds thoughts like the President being a “psychopath”, and that being gay is a choice as “straight men go into prison and come out gay” to be fair and balanced in nature. Although Cruz will sweep the majority of the religious affiliated Republican base, Dr. Carson attracts the present, and surprisingly not minute crowd of hyper-conservative and hyper-religious Republicans who want to see a man with zero political experience in the Oval Office. He has built his campaign on the foundation that the President is taking every step he can to destroy the nation, and his controversial quips are gaining steady traction with voters. His most recent book, One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America’s Future, has over three million sales nationwide, (greatly surpassing any other 2016 candidate’s memoir). His insistence to abstain from political correctness stirs tensions in the already party-split nation and endangers the governing process from top to bottom. But hey, all press is good press, right?

Wrong. Carson’s select group of followers will not carry him to the White House, but they will provide an interesting tool once his dream of nomination flounders in the primaries. Look no further than a running poll by RealClearPolitics that puts Carson behind five candidates in the rankings as of April 6. The serious GOP candidates will be in a race to scoop up as many of his votes up as possible without actually aligning with the doctor politically.

There are, of course, uses of the press that are working beautifully for candidates on either side of the aisle, but to comment on said occurrences would suggest the paper’s affiliation towards one person or party and such links cannot be made in the pursuit of self-interest. The candidates and officials singled out above are simple demonstrations towards larger practices in the political world, and nothing more.

The presentation of disagreement and open mutiny by Cotton, the peacocking and soapboxes of Cruz, and the no-holds-barred rhetoric of Carson get screen time for a reason. The men can either own their image in the press or allow their actions to speak for themselves. Equate it to one man walking on an unexciting, rigid, yet relatively safe bridge, and another man next to him tightrope walking the same distance four hundred feet in the air. The man up top is bound to draw onlookers with necks craned and fingers pointed, but the man below is bound to reach his destination without a slip into the lake of analysis and ridicule from story-hungry news-agencies at the water’s depths. Control your press, control your image, and win the vote.