Rent 9780742564237 | Presidential Elections : Strategies and Structures of American Politics | Polsby, Nelson W.; Wildavsky, Aaron; Schier, Steven; Hopkins, David @knetbooks.com

Summary Table of Contents Author Biography

Brimming with data and examples from the historic 2008 election, and laced with previews of 2012, the thirteenth edition of this classic text offers a complete overview of the presidential election process from the earliest straw polls and fundraisers to final voter turnout and exit interviews. The comprehensive coverage includes campaign strategy, the sequence of electoral events, and the issues, all from the perspective of the various actors in the election process voters, interest groups, political parties, the media, and the candidates themselves.

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List of Figure, Tables, and Boxes	p. xi
Preface	p. xiii
The strategic Environment	p. 1
Voters	p. 3
Why People Don't Vote	p. 3
Why People Do Vote: A Theory of Social Connectedness	p. 8
Party Identification as Social Identity	p. 10
Parties as Aggregates of Loyal Voters	p. 11
Ideologies, Candidates, and Issues in the Minds of Voters	p. 15
Changes in Party Identification: Social Habit versus Contemporary Evaluation	p. 18
A Central Strategic Problem: The Attentiveness of Voters	p. 22
Groups	p. 25
The Presidential Vote as an Aggregation of Interest Groups	p. 25
Variations among Interest Groups	p. 33
"Special" Interests and Public Interest Groups	p. 37
Political Parties as Organizations	p. 42
Third Parties	p. 47
Rules and resources	p. 51
Rules: The Electoral College	p. 51
Thinking about Resources	p. 52
Resources: Money	p. 53
The Beverly Hills Primary	p. 53
Campaign Money in the Prenomination Period	p. 59
Raising and Spending Money in the General Election	p. 61
Does Money Buy Elections?	p. 64
Campaign Finance Reform	p. 70
Resources: Control over Information	p. 73
Newspapers	p. 74
Television	p. 79
The Internet and Other New Media	p. 82
Incumbency as a Resource: The Presidency	p. 85
Incumbency as a Liability: The Vice Presidency	p. 88
The Balance of Resources	p. 92
Sequences	p. 93
The Nomination Process	p. 95
Before the Primaries	p. 97
Iowa and New Hampshire: The First Hurdles	p. 100
1972	p. 101
1976	p. 102
1980	p. 103
1984	p. 104
1988	p. 104
1992	p. 105
1996	p. 106
2000	p. 107
2004	p. 108
2008	p. l09
What Do These Historical Vignettes Teach?	p. 111
State Primaries	p. 112
State Caucuses	p. 124
Superdelegates	p. 126
The National Party Conventions	p. 128
Candidate Organizations at the Conventions	p. 130
Party Delegates at the Conventions	p. 131
The Convention as Advertising	p. 135
The Vice Presidential Nominee	p. 138
The Future of National Conventions	p. 143
The Campaign	p. 147
The Well-Traveled Candidates	p. 148
Persuading Voters	p. 152
Economic Issues	p. 153
Foreign Issues	p. 155
Social Issues	p. 156
Presentation of Self	p. 158
Negative Campaigning	p. 162
Getting Good Press	p. 164
Campaign Professionals	p. 167
Policy Advisers	p. 171
Polling	p. 173
Focus Groups	p. 178
Television Advertising	p. 180
New Media	p. 182
Televised Debates	p. 184
Getting Out the Vote	p. 190
Campaign Blunders	p. 192
Forecasting the Outcome	p. 197
Counting the Vote	p. 203
Issues	p. 209
Appraisals	p. 211
The Political Theory of Policy Government	p. 214
Reform by Means of Participatory Democracy	p. 219
Some Specific Reforms	p. 223
The Nomination Process	p. 224
The Decline of the National Convention	p. 228
The Electoral College	p. 231
Party Platforms and Party Differences	p. 238
American Parties and Democracy	p. 241
Elections and Public Policy	p. 242
Parties of Advocacy versus Parties of Intermediation	p. 247
Appendixes	p. 253
Vote by Groups in Presidential Elections, 1952-2008	p. 255
Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections, by Population Characteristics,1968-2008	p. 263
Selections from the Democratic and Republican Party Platforms, 2008	p. 275
Notes	p. 281
Index	p. 329
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

The late Nelson W. Polsby was Heller Professor of Political Science and past director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught American politics for forty years. The late Aaron Wildavsky was Class of 1940 Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and founding dean of Berkeley's Graduate (now Goldman) School of Public Policy. Steven E. Schier is Dorothy H. and Edward C. Congdon Professor of Political Science at Carleton College. He is the author or editor of eleven books and numerous scholarly and media articles. David A. Hopkins is assistant professor of political science at Boston College.

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