This new edition provides the latest on controversies surrounding the presidential selection process. The text is two-thirds new material, with new articles by John F. Bibby, Robert D. Brown, Emmett H. Buell, Jr., M. Margaret Conway, Thomas E. Cronin, Doris Graber, Jon F. Hale, Everett Ladd, Robert D. Loevy, Theodore Lowi, Wayne Parent, Frank J. Sorauf, and Herbert Weisberg, and revised articles from many of the contributors to the first edition. The book is designed to stimulate lively debate and critical thinking about the modern process of presidential selection. Eleven issues that impact directly on the selection of the president of the United States are examined in a scholarly and argumentative format. Essays pro and con on each issue educate students in the dynamics of presidential selection and help them evaluate competing perspectives on today's pressing issues. The controversial issues examined span the various phases of the selection process, including the nominating system, the nominating convention, and the general election campaign. New issues covered for this edition include whether a third major party in U.S. politics is likely or needed.

The use of wedge issues such as abortion, gay marriage, and immigration has become standard political strategy in contemporary presidential campaigns. Why do candidates use such divisive appeals? Who in the electorate is persuaded by these controversial issues? And what are the consequences for American democracy? In this provocative and engaging analysis of presidential campaigns, Sunshine Hillygus and Todd Shields identify the types of citizens responsive to campaign information, the reasons they are responsive, and the tactics candidates use to sway these pivotal voters. The Persuadable Voter shows how emerging information technologies have changed the way candidates communicate, who they target, and what issues they talk about. As Hillygus and Shields explore the complex relationships between candidates, voters, and technology, they reveal potentially troubling results for political equality and democratic governance. The Persuadable Voter examines recent and historical campaigns using a wealth of data from national surveys, experimental research, campaign advertising, archival work, and interviews with campaign practitioners. With its rigorous multimethod approach and broad theoretical perspective, the book offers a timely and thorough understanding of voter decision making, candidate strategy, and the dynamics of presidential campaigns.

The book is designed to stimulate lively debate and critical thinking about the modern process of presidential selection. Eleven issues that impact directly on the selection of the president of the United States are examined in a scholarly and argumentative format. Essays pro and con on each issue educate students in the dynamics of presidential selection and help them evaluate competing perspectives on today's pressing issues.

This book aims to present to western philosophers the most important theme in Islamic epistemology: knowledge by presence, the knowledge that results from immediate and intuitive awarenes, advocated by the author as a viable modern philosophical position. Treating the subject in a thoroughly philosophical manner that is comprehensible to contemporary analytical philosophers, he remains faithful to the Islamic tradition.

Examining the development of the process of presidential selection from the founding of the republic to the present day, James Ceaser contends that many of the major purposes of the selection system as it was formerly understood have been ignored by current reformers and modern scholars. In an attempt to reverse this trend, Professor Ceaser discusses the theories of selection offered by leading American statesmen from the Founders and Thomas Jefferson to Martin Van Buren and Woodrow Wilson. From these theories he identifies a set of criteria for a sound selection system that he then uses to analyze and evaluate the recent changes in the selection process. Five normative functions of a presidential selection system comprise the author's criteria: it should minimize the harmful effects of ambitious contenders for the office, promote responsible executive leadership and power, help secure an able president, ensure a legitimate accession, and provide for an appropriate amount of choice and change. Professor Ceaser finds that the present system is characterized by weak parties and candidate-centered campaigns that lead to the problems of "image" politics and demagogic leadership appeals. He therefore argues for a more republican selection system in which political parties would be strengthened to serve as a restraining force on popular authority, public opinion, and individual aspirations for executive power.

Perfect for an election year, the current, clear, and accessible Politics of Presidential Selection provides an illuminating guide to the dynamics of election to this unique office. This absorbing text is a comprehensive overview of how we select the American president and why the system works as it does. The authors use the theory of "bounded rationality" to examine the many aspects of presidential selection, providing a theoretical framework that helps tie concepts together for readers and offers a coherent look at a complex process.