Shea and Burton present a lively, comprehensive exploration of cutting-edge political campaign management. They cover all aspects of present-day political campaigns, from understanding the context of a particular campaign, to fundraising tips, to strategic thinking and scores of winning voter contact techniques. With careful attention and hard work, even average citizens can oversee sophisticated, state-of-the-art political campaigns. Those who try will find no aid more valuable than this book. Bringing to bear both academic and professional experience, Shea and Burton present a lively, comprehensive exploration of cutting-edge political campaign management. They cover every aspect of present-day political campaigning, from understanding the context of a particular campaign (national trends, the media market, demographic research, etc.) to strategic thinking and specific voter contact techniques that work. These techniques include tactical use of fundraising, paid media, free media--including the Internet--and get-out-the-vote drives. Throughout the text, the authors present up-to-date analysis, peppered with examples from national, state, and local campaigns. Campaign Craft is a comprehensive guide to modern electioneering--a must read for candidates and political activists, scholars, researchers, and all those interested in knowing how to run modern, high-tech campaigns.

The go-to source on campaign management for nearly two decades is now updated to cover the latest in contemporary campaign expertise from general strategy to voter contact to the future of political campaigns. Political campaigning reinvents itself at a furious pace. This highly respected text recounts the evolution of modern campaign management and shares strategies and tactics common to American elections. Informed by the practical political experience of three scholarly authors, the book weaves important academic perspectives with insights garnered from close observation of electoral practice. The fifth edition lays out the foundations of modern campaign management, going on to explore critical steps in running a "new style" campaign. Using fresh stories and recent research, the book follows American electioneering from the planning stages through Election Day and concludes with a view to the future of political campaigning. Critical updates examine the Tea Party movement, new political technologies, advances (and challenges) in opinion polling and field experimentation, and increasing polarization within the American electorate. New material includes an exploration of the Super PACs and non-candidate campaigns that are changing the strategic context of American elections.

A comprehensive guide to and analysis of modern political campaign communication.

Modern Political Campaigns brings together academic, practical, and interviews to help understand how professionalism, technology, and speed have revolutionized elections, creating more voter-centric races for public office. Dr. Michael D. Cohen, a 20+ year veteran of working on, teaching, and writing about political campaigns take readers through how campaigns are organized, state-of-the-art tools of the trade, and how some of the most interesting people in politics got their big breaks. The book takes readers through clear-eyed chapters on parties and elections, campaign planning and management, fundraising, independent groups, vulnerability and opposition research, data and analytics, focus groups and polling, earned, paid and social media, and field operations. Finally, the book revisits the Permanent Campaign in terms of modern approaches to winning elections raising questions about today’s uniform preference for turnout over persuasion and what that means for our American democracy. Modern Political Campaigns will appeal to students and political activists interested in working in political campaigns. It is also a great read for anyone who wants to better understand the nuts and bolts of campaigns in practical terms from professionals, and the opportunities they provide all of us to be more engaged citizens and hold our leaders more accountable each Election Day.

The book provides a comprehensive discussion of the major issues and events surrounding all American presidential elections, from the earliest years of the Republic through the campaign of 2008. Presidential Campaigns, Slogans, Issues, and Platforms: The Complete Encyclopedia is an easy-to-use reference work designed to encourage students and anyone interested in democratic politics to undertake a greater understanding of this complex aspect of American political life. The three-volume work covers each presidential campaign in depth, examining a large number of related issues ranging from the use of social media in modern presidential campaigns to negative campaign ads and key slogans used in every presidential campaign. Volume One contains entries offering specific and focused information on issues, trends, factors, slogans, strategies, and other more detailed elements of presidential campaigning from the first stirrings of the American democratic process to the first decade of the 21st century. Volumes Two and Three provide chronological accounts of every presidential campaign since the ratification of the Constitution through the campaign of 2008, with Volume Two covering the campaign of 1788–89 to the campaign of 1908, and Volume Three covering the campaign of 1912 to the campaign of 2008.

These approximately 450 articles explore all topics relevant to American political campaigns, elections and electoral behaviour including some cross-cultural comparisons to help place American trends in a global context.

Based on data from the most recent elections, this book examines state house races in four key states California, Texas, Michigan, and Virginia and creates simulations of campaign planning, strategizing, budgeting, fundraising, and winning in a variety of political contexts. The authors have not only researched and taught about these issues they have conducted campaigns, run for office, and served in government at every level from the local to the national. They have experience confronting questions of campaign ethics and crisis management, and they actively embrace social media in their work. Internet fundraising as well as campaign websites are among the many media subjects included. This is a book not just for candidates, campaign professionals, and students, but for all concerned citizens who want to understand the pathways of politics better.