The pressures of contemporary electioneering force political professionals into 'campaign mode'-a state of mind that merges a visceral drive to win elections with a deep-seated habit of strategic thinking. Wise political professionals know the basic rules of electoral strategy and how to read the political terrain. Campaign Mode examines the strategic histories of five successful congressional candidates-Ohio's Ted Strickland, Georgia's Bob Barr, California's Loretta Sanchez, Tennessee's H...

For nearly 200 years, Americans have pinned the democratic character of their system on elections. In many ways, we have become an election-crazed nation, ever-hoping that the next grand contest or the next great candidate will save the day. But tectonic shifts abound – changes that are distorting the nature of the process. From the rise of fear-centered partisanship, new limits on voter access to the polls, the omnipotence of social media, declining standards of objectivity, Russian inter...

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 sc...

Combining primary sources with expert commentary, this timely book probes critical moments in U.S. presidential elections in the last 20th- and early 21st-centuries, empowering readers to better understand and analyze the electoral process.Presidential Campaigns: Documents Decoded illuminates both the high stakes of a presidential campaign and the gaffes, controversies, and excesses that often influence the outcome. With a view to enabling readers to devel...

Continuing a three-decade tradition, The State of the Parties 7th edition brings together leading experts to evaluate change and continuity in American electoral politics. Political parties in America have never been more contentious and divided than they are right now. Even splits within the parties themselves have the power to elevate relatively unknown candidates to power and topple established incumbents. With sections devoted to polarization and the electorate, polarization and politi...

America may be the most election-crazed nation in the world, boasting roughly 500,000 elected positions nationwide. Not only do we rely heavily on elections to fill government positions, but the frequency of these events far outpaces what is found in other nations. Americans use elections not only to select candidates, but to directly change government policy as well. Referendums and ballot initiatives allow average citizens to vote on policy matters, essentially sidestepping the legislati...

The widening gulf between rural and urban America is becoming the most serious political divide of our day. Support for Democrats, up and down the ballot, has plummeted throughout the countryside, and the entire governing system is threatened by one-party dominance. After Donald Trump's surprising victories throughout rural America, pundits and journalists went searching for answers, popping into roadside diners and opining from afar. Rural Americans are supposedly bigots, culturally backw...