Stump speech (politics) BOMFOG. An example is provided by the Washington Post on a 2008 presidential candidate Barack Obama speech, complete with time line, segmentation and videos. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2008/02/26/GR2008022600417.html. Stump speech (politics) A political stump speech is a standard speech used by a politician running for office. Typically a candidate who schedules many appearances prepares a short standardized stump speech that is repeated verbatim to each audience, before opening to questions. The term derives from the early American custom in which candidates campaigned from town to town and stood upon a sawed off tree stump to deliver their speech. In presidential campaigns in the
A Time for Choosing event that launched Reagan's political career. To this day, "The Speech" is considered one of the most effective ever made on behalf of a candidate. Nevertheless, Barry Goldwater lost the election by one of the largest margins in history. Soon afterwards, Reagan was asked to run for Governor of California; he ran for office and won election in 1966. Reagan was later dubbed the "Great Communicator" in recognition of his effective oratory skills. A Time for Choosing "A Time for Choosing", also known as "The Speech", was a speech presented during the 1964 U.S. presidential election campaign by future president