Paul S. Herrnson – författare

This unique reader examines a broad sample of campaigns and gives students a real flavor of campaign politics by including some of the most interesting, colorful, and surprising races. Combining on-the-ground accounts with links to scholarship, the nineteen case studies drawn from Campaigns and Elections magazine take students behind the scenes to unveil the strategies, techniques, and personalities that drive contemporary campaigns. National, state, and local races receive attention, as do state and local referenda.

In their introduction, the editors—a distinguished group of scholars and experts on campaign management—provide helpful background information about the cases. They look at the major influences on and general trends in contemporary electoral politics, including issues, parties, campaign finance, incumbency, and initiative voting. Understanding these factors will help students recognize how each case fits into a broader whole even as that case reflects a uniqueness that makes political campaigns so fascinating.

The cases are illustrated with photos, clips from print and television campaign ads, excerpts from campaign literature, and various tables and scoreboards with polling and election return data.

With Congress more partisan than ever, the White House eager to mobilize group support, the appropriations process in flux, and important interest group litigation in the courts, this volume confirms that navigating the complex world of inside-the-beltway politics is especially tricky. For interest groups, the name of the game is access. The Interest Group Connection’s twenty chapters show how organized interests gain that access in Washington. Brief and accessible readings explore the connections between lobbyists’ influence and American policymaking institutions and processes, as well as the crucial role interest groups play in organizing constituencies, protecting their rights, and giving them entrée into the political process. Given the current environment—new campaign finance laws, the prevalence of “527” committees, and a near-even electoral environment—the second edition provides an inside look at a changed political world.