About the Book

"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."

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments List of Tables, Figures, and Boxes Chapter 1. Losing and Winning: The Craft and Science of Political Campaigns A Tale of Two Managers Learning and Experimenting Why Campaign Managers Do It What Campaigns Do The Roles and Goals of a Campaign Manager Chapter 2. Political Math The Fundamentals The Role of Fundamentals: From Demographics to Party ID Share and Performance Blue Wall Math Summary Chapter 3. Political Historian and Data Scientist: Charting a Path to Victory through Information and Analysis The Secret Ballot Problem Focus Groups, Polls, and Other Forms of Information Gathering Who Do We Need? How Do We Reach Them? What Do We Tell Them? How Are We Doing? What Are Our Opponents and Allies Doing? Summary Chapter 4. Entrepreneur and Chief Financial Officer: Launching and Sustaining the Campaign Spending and Margins The Money Advantage How Money Matters (Decisions) “The Nightmare of All Campaigns” (Fundraising) Summary Chapter 5. Team Builder: Embracing the Personal Side of Politics Team Building in Trump’s Organization Jen Pihlaja Team Builder: “A Big Cheerleader” Chapter 6. Ideologist and Policy Wonk: Standing for Something “An Altitude of 30,000 Feet” Clinton as Policy Wonk Campaign Manager as Policy Wonk The Frustrated Policy Wonk Summary Chapter 7. Marketing Maven: Reaching the Campaign’s Target Voter Audiences “What Are They Doing?” Competitive Media Tracking in the 2016 Presidential Race What Are Gross Rating Points? Learning the Basic Math of Media “How many GRP’s do we have?” "How Many Gross Rating Points Do I Need?” The Business of Political TV Advertising Today’s Media Mix: More than TV Chapter 8. Producer and Stage Manager: Creating and Presenting the Campaign’s Messages Producing a 4 a.m. Media Event The Making of the “Guru Spot” What Do We Tell Voters? How the Message Matters Why Campaigns “Go Negative” “A Hugging Contest?”: Why Negative Ads Affect Election Margins Going Negative in a Primary Responding to Negative Attacks Summary Chapter 9. Spinmeister: Navigating the News Landscape Spinmeister Turned Reporter: A Case Study Cautious Clinton versus Risk-taking Trump A Failure of Crisis Management: “Let Herman be Herman” Inoculation: Preparing for Bad News How Do We Reach Them? What Do We Tell Them? “Your Best Friend or Your Worst Enemy” Earned Media Digital and Social Media The Changing News Landscape Making News with Both New Media and Old Media Chapter 10. Field General: Waging the War on the Ground How Do We Reach Them? The Two-Step Process: Deciding to Vote and Voting for or against a Candidate “Old-Fashioned Grunt Work” Summary Chapter 11. Strategy Enforcer and Team Builder: Keeping a Day-to-Day Focus on the Long-Term Path to Victory James Carville: Losing Before Winning Clinton-Gore 1992: “The Best Campaign Ever” Keeping the Campaign Team on Strategy Inheriting a Team: Executing a Strategy Strategy Enforcer in the Age of Super Political Action Committees How Are We Doing? Chapter 12. Candidate Caretaker and Confidant: Handling Details and Building Trust Becoming Indispensable The Buffer and the Concierge Building Trust: “Jimmy, Here’s What We Need to Do” Building the Relationship Honesty Managing the Candidate’s Family Losing and Winning: When the Campaign Ends Appendixes: Teaching and Research Resources Appendix A. Campaign Manager Survey Questionnaire Library Appendix B. Interview with Doug Bailey Appendix C. Manager Profile—Katie Merrill: Managing in the California Big Leagues Appendix D. Manager Profile—Reed Galen: Just Say No Appendix E. The Audacity of Smoke: The Rise and Fall of the Unorthodox Herman Cain Campaign Index About the Authors