Campaigning for President 2008

Strategy and Tactics, New Voices and New Techniques

Edited by Dennis W. Johnson

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• ISBN: 978-0-415-80374-8
• Binding: Hardback (also available in Paperback)
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 24th July 2009
• Pages: 288

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About the Book

In this important and timely volume, Dennis W. Johnson has assembled an outstanding team of political science and political journalism scholars and veteran campaign consultants to examine the most exciting presidential campaign in memory. Campaigning for President 2008 focuses on the strategies and tactics used by the presidential candidates, the new voices and new techniques used to generate support and persuade voters, and the activities of outside interests trying to influence the outcome. The experienced team of contributors explain how Obama triumphed in the primaries and how Clinton fell short; and how McCain came back from the politically dead. In this fascinating account, the authors examine the brilliant moves, the mistakes and miscalculations, and the tug of forces over which neither campaign had control.

Reviews

"The editor of this fine volume, Dennis W. Johnson, asks in the opening chapter whether the presidential election of 2008 was unlike any other in American history. The answer to that question is an unqualified ‘yes’—on this we can agree. But the devil is always in the details. Campaigning for President 2008 answers the more important question of how this election was unlike any other. Johnson brings together the finest practitioners, pundits, and scholars to analyze the 2008 campaign from the inside out, and from top to bottom. An invaluable contribution to our understanding of how presidential campaigns and elections work."

—Christopher Malone, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director, Pforzheimer Honors College, Pace University

"In Campaigning for President 2008, Dennis W. Johnson et al. examine the right questions about the 2008 election with current data and real-world insights. The book provides timely analysis from respected academics and expert campaign professionals of what in many respects was a remarkable election."

—David B. Magleby, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Dean, College of Family, Home and Social Sciences, Brigham Young University

"This volume will quickly become a must-read for those looking for a thoughtful analysis of the historic 2008 presidential election. Johnson does a masterful job of framing the expert analysis (on topics such as campaign finance, the youth vote, and media strategy) in the context of past presidential elections and the scholarly literature on campaigns and elections. I will definitely assign this book in my courses."

—Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan, University of South Florida St. Petersburg, Founding Director of the Center for Civic Engagement

Table of Contents

1. An Election Like No Other? Dennis W. Johnson Part 1: The Primaries 2. Obama Wins the Nomination: How He Did It Tad Devine 3. Why Clinton Lost Ronald A. Faucheux 4. McCain: From Frontrunner to Dead-in-the-Water to Nominee Tony Fabrizio 5. The Preacher and the Press: How the Jeremiah Wright Story Became the First Feeding Frenzy in the Digital Age Albert L. May Part 2: New Voices and New Techniques 6. A Perfect Storm: The 2008 Youth Vote Kathleen Barr 7. Rewriting the Playbook on Presidential Campaign Financing Anthony Corrado and Molly Corbett 8. The Online Revolution Julie Barko Germany Part 3: The General Election 9. McCain: Strategies and Tactics in the General Election William Greener and Christopher Arterton 10. Obama: Strategies and Tactics in the General Election Christopher Arterton and William Greener 11. Outside Voices: 527s, Political Parties and other Non-Candidate Groups Stephen K. Medvic 12. Communication Wars: Television and New Media Peter Fenn 13. Ten Plays that Won (and Lost) the Presidency Dennis W. Johnson

About the Author(s)

Dennis W. Johnson is professor of political management at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. He is author of No Place for Amateurs: How Political Consultants Are Reshaping American Democracy, 2d. ed. (2007), Congress Online: Bridging the Gap Between Citizens and Their Representatives (2004), and The Laws that Shaped America: Fifteen Acts of Congress and Their Lasting Impact (2009); and editor of the Routledge Handbook of Political Management (2008). For ten years he had his own political research consulting firm.

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