Stump speeches. They're tried and sometimes true, they're rinsed and repeated... and repeated... and repeated.

Over the course of covering a campaign, these purposely newsless speeches become as predictable as the constant barrage of email blasts to the press or the bad background music before candidates come on stage.

But a candidate's stump speech, at its core, is an attempt to convey a vision and a message. What are the themes of the race? What promises are being made? What does the candidate know – that the rest of us don't?

To better illuminate the signals and ...

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