Race Appeal

"Race Appeal is a well-researched, intellectually sophisticated-with some very convincing arguments-and cogently presented book. It is an exhaustive study that covers the full range of what might be considered race in the U.S. political campaign process. While sweeping in its attention, the book is thematically and theoretically organized in a most productive way, presenting a complex dialogue around racial groups, historical periods, and recent theorization." -Robin R. Means Coleman, Associate Professor of Communication Studies and of AfroAmerican and African Studies at University of Michigan "Race Appeal is a thought-provoking study of the interaction of race and electoral politics in inter-racial and intra-racial campaigns. Analyzing campaign ads, media coverage, experimental results, and campaign strategies, Charlton McIlwain and Stephen Caliendo demonstrate that despite the election of America's first black president, race still matters and that its study requires the kind of comprehensive treatment demonstrated in this admirable book." -Andrew Rojecki, University of Illinois at Chicago

Charlton D. McIlwain is Associate Professor of Media, Culture and Communication at New York University. He is the author of When Death Goes Pop: Death, Media and the Remaking of Community and Death in Black and White: Death, Ritual and Family Ecology. He is coeditor of The Routledge Companion to Race and Ethnicity. Stephen M. Caliendo is Professor of Political Science at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. He is the author of Inequality in America: Race, Poverty and Fulfilling Democracy's Promise and Teachers Matter: The Trouble with Leaving Political Education to the Coaches. He is coeditor of The Routledge Companion to Race and Ethnicity.

Contents Acknowledgments Introduction. The Political Landscape of Race-Based Appeals Part I The Empirical Evidence on Race Appeals 1. Producing Race Appeal: The Political Ads of White and Minority Candidates 2. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Deploying Racist Appeals among Black and White Voters 3. Neither Black nor White: The Fruitless Appeal to Racial Authenticity 4. Competing Novelties: How Newspapers Frame the Election Campaigns of Blacks, Latinos, and Asian Americans Part II: Case Studies in Race Appeal 5. Racializing Immigration Policy: Issue Ads in the 2006 Election 6. Harold Ford Jr., Mel Martinez, and Artur Davis: Case Studies in Racially Framed News 7. Barack Obama, Race-Based Appeals, and the 2008 Presidential Election Epilogue. Racialized Campaigns: What Have We Learned, and Where Do We Go from Here? Notes References Index