* In a Democratic presidential-candidate field expected to morph to 20 or more, there’s an acute need for media attention. Having said that, serious candidates ought to at least make their formal announcement in an appropriate forum. Hometowns always work well. Nothing like the optics of roots and an energetic gaggle of family, friends and political supporters.
Eric Swalwell, the 30-something congressman from California, didn’t get that memo. He formally announced his candidacy on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”
We get the pragmatic motivation and value–especially for the name-recognition-challenged–of appearing on forums, including televised town halls, that put a candidate in front of large national audiences. It would be unconscionably dumb to do otherwise. And this goes back to John F. Kennedy appearing on “The Tonight Show” with Jack Paar. But that’s not where candidates should be making their formal announcement, unless they’re trying to underscore that politics and show business have become increasingly inseparable.