Inside Campaigns
Elections through the Eyes of Political Professionals
"Inside Campaigns: Elections Through the Eyes of Political Professionals is essential reading not only for students interested in running campaigns and for journalism students who want to cover politics, but for campaign operatives generally and journalists who want to raise the level of their game. In fact, it’s good reading for everybody."
—Thomas B. Edsall, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism
"Much of our useful knowledge sits at the intersection of disciplines. Inside Campaigns demonstrates that through a skillful combination of political science with management in a highly readable and practical format. A first for this field!"
—Leonard A. Schlesinger, Baker Foundation Professor-Harvard Business School, President Emeritus-Babson College
Inside Campaigns, Second Edition takes readers on a journey into the world of campaign managers. Powered by scores of interviews and surveys of political professionals, the book considers the purpose, potency, and poetry of modern political campaigns in the US. The expert author team draw from years of scholarly research and professional campaign experience to guide readers on a behind-the-scenes tour of the ways campaigns are managed, the strategies that are employed, the roles played by both staff and the candidates, and the affects election outcomes have on American democracy. Readers will develop an understanding of what campaigns do and why they matter, as well as gain practical skills for working in a campaign or advocating for a cause.
New to the Second Edition:
- A case study created from an in-depth interview with Bernie Sanders’ top digital decision-makers describes how the Sanders’ campaign used digital media to harness the energy of their highly motivated base supporters. This case shows students a real-life campaign decision-making situation, and demonstrates how campaigns use new digital media to drive traditional news media coverage.
- A unique joint interview with the top media buyers from the Clinton and Trump campaigns reveals how each campaign tracked the other’s advertising and adjusted their own advertising based on competitive tracking information. This interview illustrates to students how modern campaigns use media tracking technologies to monitor their opposition and spend tens of millions of dollars at the presidential level.
- A top Trump digital manager shares inside details of how the Republican National Committee moved quickly to help build out the Trump digital operations after it was clear that Trump would be the party’s presidential nominee. This insight helps students understand how the Trump campaign answered, “What do we tell them?” by testing messages online, including recycling Trump’s personal tweets in instant messages and emails.
- The differences between how the Clinton and Trump campaigns managed the news media are highlighted in a case study of one journalist’s experiences covering both campaigns. This case study helps the student build skills for becoming a “spinmeister” who handles day-to-day relationships with the news media. The authors’ research surprisingly reveals that, behind the scenes, Trump was much more available to reporters than Clinton, despite Trump’s continuous public attacks on the “fake news media.”
“I was impressed not only by the purpose of the authors—to bring real-world perspectives to the study of an immensely important part of the overall topic of campaigns and elections—but also by their fascinating take on the debate over the degree to which campaigns matter.”
“The content is built upon what many real professional think is most critical in campaigns. The voice of the campaign professionals comes through.”
“[The] extensive interviews that the authors did with campaign managers [result] in an insider view that is typically not present in a book written by political scientists.”
“Complicating issues are explained clearly for even the novice political science student.”
“The use of testimony and statements from practitioners, who are well-known and less well-known, provides the book with an air of authenticity.”
"Much of our useful knowledge sits at the intersection of disciplines. Inside Campaigns demonstrates that through a skillful combination of political science with management in a highly readable and practical format. A first for this field!"
