Political Campaign Communication

Inside and Out

Larry Powell, Joseph Cowart

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351965866
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Communication Studies
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Now in its third edition, Political Campaign Communication: Inside and Out examines the intricacies of political campaigning through the eyes of both an academic and a political consultant. Unlike others in its field, this text takes a broad view of political campaigning, discussing both theories and principles, along with topics such as political socialization, the role of money, ethics, and critical events. This new edition delves into ongoing changes in the American political environment, with fuller examinations of women and gender, the involvement of social media in political campaigning, political money, and ethics. Advanced undergraduate and graduate students of political communication can make use of updated chapter-by-chapter discussion questions and online practice quizzes.

Part I
An Overview of Political Communication Issues

The first part of this book is an overview of political communication issues. Chapter 1 begins at a basic level—defining the concept. As elementary as that seems, it is a crucial beginning point. Discussion of all subsequent issues will depend on a common understanding of “political communication.” Agreement on something as simple as a definition is not always easy. In fact, a key aspect of this chapter will be understanding how political communication is defined differently by the academic and consulting communities. Further looks at the topic will reveal that definitions of the topic vary, even within the academic community. Sometimes “political communication” is defined so broadly that it can encompass almost any form of interaction between groups or individuals. Sometimes it is defined so narrowly that it fits within only one area of study. We will define it so that its primary focus is on communication related to political campaigns. That does not mean we will look only at campaign communications, since many of the messages offered by politicians and candidates during nonelection periods are also campaign-related.

Chapter 2 is a look at ethical issues that arise during a campaign. Candidates, consultants, and campaign workers have to all be cognizant of the ethical issues that they continuously face during a campaign. Unfortunately, the desire to win can sometimes override other considerations, leading to a wide range of ethical problems. Curiously, the possibility of losing may not alter such poor decisions. In 1972, for example, Richard Nixon was a shoo-in for reelection against Democrat George McGovern, but his campaign lost its moral compass during that election anyway.

Chapter 3 focuses on political socialization—how people form, develop, and maintain their political attitudes. Some books that focus on campaign communication omit this topic. After all, the socialization process begins at an early age, before most people are even old enough to vote. As such, some might argue, it has little direct relationship to any specific election campaign. We disagree. This topic is approached early because the formation of partisan attitudes influences most subsequent elements of the campaign process. People who are lifelong Democrats or Republicans are often resistant to persuasive efforts from the other side. Understanding why they are so resistant is important to understanding political campaign communication, and new research has provided an updated view of the topic.

Chapter 4 looks at campaign strategies. After completing a list of readings on campaign strategies, a graduate student approached one of the authors and described herself as “naive.” “I always assumed that candidates simply put themselves on the ballot, presented their ideas to the public, and the public selected the one they preferred,” she said. Hardly. Most successful campaigns are organized around well-defined campaign strategies that provide guidelines for the selection of campaign messages, the timing of campaign activities, and the choice of tactics employed. Strategies are generally campaign-specific—a new one is devised for each particular campaign. But some general strategic models have been developed, and they are presented in this chapter. In addition, this third edition provides an update of the twenty-first-century strategies—that is, those used in the 2000, 2004, and 2008 elections. The techniques used to develop such strategies are also described.

Chapter 5 looks at the images of political candidates. This chapter offers both an academic and a consulting view of the topic. In the past, some academic studies of candidate images have focused on breaking the concept down into its component parts. A number of different approaches have been suggested for that, and several of these are discussed. Other academic viewpoints assume that the candidate’s image is a holistic concept that can be hard to dissect. The consulting community generally agrees with this approach. As a part of the campaign’s persuasive efforts, consultants try to identify what factors contribute to an overall positive or negative opinion of a candidate or politician. Pragmatically, the goal is to identify those elements that can enhance the image of your candidate or detract from the image of the opposition. Despite these two divergent goals, though, both fields have a great deal in common on this topic.

Chapter 6 provides an overview of media theory as it relates to political communication. This chapter is heavily oriented toward the academic view of political communication, so much so that some campaign-based books leave this subject out. Some academic books on political communication will focus entirely on this topic. We believe this chapter is essential to a broad understanding of campaign communication. Modern media theories, such as the agenda-setting, uses-gratifications, and limited effects models, the third-person effect, the spiral of silence, and the hostile media effect, have direct campaign implications. Consultants often make use of the ideas developed by the theories, even if those same consultants can’t name the specific theory behind their tactics. We believe an understanding of these concepts will make the reader a more informed and objective observer of the political campaign process. That is, after all, the major purpose of this book.

1
Political Communication

An Introduction

The 2016 U.S. presidential election was one of the most exciting in the history of the nation. After eight years of the Barack Obama presidency, the Republicans thought they had a chance to retake the White House. Many were surprised when businessman Donald Trump became their nominee, but Democrat Hillary Clinton saw that nomination as a chance for her to continue Democratic dominance in the position. The field of political communication, it seems, was facing some of the most dramatic changes that the profession had ever seen.

And that was just the beginning. The dust had barely settled on the election before the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling on campaign finance regulations that changed the playing field for corporate involvement in politics (Smith, Williams, Powell, & Copeland, 2010). The decision signaled a new round of moves and countermoves for financial contributors. Corporations, which had faced strict regulations and limits on contributions in the past, would now be able to expand their involvement in politics. What changes would that trigger for academicians and consultants who study and work in political communication?

The term “political communication” evokes images of candidates and campaigns, debates and issues, propaganda and persuasion. As a subject, it is both simple and complex. It is simple because it focuses on such a narrow and specific topic. It is complex because it incorporates so many diverse disciplines and addresses a mass audience. Consultants and other political practitioners often come from diverse educational backgrounds and yet work together in a specialized environment. Scholars who study the topic find themselves following tangential lines of research that lead through the fields of mass communication, political science, law, advertising, marketing, and rhetoric.

Political communication is the study of those communication processes that contribute to the exchange of ideas in the democratic political process. That simple definition covers a lot of academic territory, thus emphasizing the complexity of the subject matter and the broadness of its application. An important facet of this definition is that it is not limited merely to political campaigns. That broad view is intentional. The reality of political communication today is that it is a constant, ongoing activity that extends well beyond those few months immediately preceding an election. Most major politicians have consultants available at all times, a factor that caused Democratic consultant Shrum (2007) to label himself as a “serial campaigner” (p. 1). One of Shrum’s most active times as a consultant, in fact, was in a nonelection environment—working with President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky controversy.

Consultants are involved in all facets of the communication process (including lobbying), with some developing reputations among the public at large (Nagourney, 2007). If their presence becomes too apparent, however, they can detract from the process by becoming the target of criticism that does little to progress discussion of an issue (Leibovich, 2009). Candidates and parties are constantly looking for ways to reduce consulting costs, but they rarely succeed (Drew, 2007). The problem is that most professionally run campaigns work under an eighteen-month span; planning starts in midyear prior to the next November election, a benchmark poll is conducted fourteen months out, and the consulting activities increase after that as the election draws nearer. For a congressional incumbent, that means that the “nonelection” time is limited to only about 6–8 months out of every two-year span. Ignoring that factor would distort the consultant’s view of the process.

In a democracy, political campaigns are at the center of this collection of processes. As the messages are presented within the campaign context, some are accepted or rejected by the voters, who make their decision known by the candidates they support. As messages become refined, they are transformed from time to time as legislative proposals. Those proposals are offered by elected officials who consider their actions in the context of and as a rationalization of both their past campaign and their next campaign. Meanwhile, an ongoing community often exists in the background—a community composed of newspaper editors, special interests, public interests, lobbyists, and others. As the campaign debate continues, their input results in the emergence of other proposals for legislative action.

As the proposal passes through the legislative process, it becomes a factor in the next campaign. If it becomes law, it proceeds to an implementation phase where special interests and public interests and others attempt to reshape it within legislative parameters. The proposal then returns to the political campaign as an accomplishment, something a candidate can tout as an achievement that merits reelection. If it fails in the legislative process, and if interest remains, it becomes fodder for a new campaign message, something the candidate can use as a message regarding a problem that still needs to be addressed. And the process begins anew.

Tying down this concept merely emphasizes its complexity. One colleague tried to explain it to a student by saying that political communication was a combination of persuasion and organizational communication. His explanation was correct but insufficient. Without understanding the path it follows—into, through, and after political campaigns—comprehending political communication will be difficult, if not impossible.

This book will focus on the political campaign process. Campaign activities often offer valuable insights into effective political communication. Hart (2000) argues that campaigns are essential to the function of a democracy; they inform us about issues, sensitize us to the concerns of others, and increase our awareness of the political world. Campaigns are the focal point for most political communication activities. Campaigns are the source of much of our information about political issues. Campaigns are obviously the route by which many politicians attain public office. Once elected, they become part of a perpetual, even permanent, campaign in which they must constantly work toward reelection (Blumenthal, 1982). If they choose not to run again, the campaign communication continues anyway as both parties maneuver to enhance the chances for their chosen candidates. Because of this, legislatures (both state and federal) have become increasingly concerned over the ballot-box implications of their decisions. For that reason, we will also look at political communication at the legislative level, particularly as it applies to political campaigns. Both political parties maintain year-round strategy-planning teams whose purpose is to evaluate and respond to current events in terms of their long-term electoral implications. Even at the local level, zoning and other decisions are often influenced by electoral implications (Staley, 2001).

Our major goals will be twofold. First, we hope to broaden the reader’s perspective on the role of political consultants. These campaign professionals sometimes appear to have split personalities; sometimes they are viewed as kingmakers by the press and the public and sometimes they are maligned as unethical campaign practitioners. We will examine their role by analyzing what they do in campaigns and by providing insights from the consultants themselves. We invite the reader into that discussion by examining their role at various levels within a campaign.

Second, we hope to shed light on the relationship between the consultants and the academic community that studies political campaigns. In the past there was often an arm’s-length relationship between the two. That boundary seems to be shrinking as more university professors serve as independent campaign consultants, while an increasing number of consultants serve as university lecturers. If that gap is closed even more, we believe that both groups can benefit. The consulting community could benefit from the constant expansion of ideas among the academic community for communicating with the public. The academic community’s ability to objectively observe campaigns could benefit if they have a better understanding of the role of campaign consultants. Neither will reach full productivity until they understand each other.

▶ Academic Observers Versus Professional Practitioners

Political communication is both an area of academic study and a professional activity. The differences between the two communities are enough that they do not even use the term “political communication” in the same way. Academicians speak of political communication, in the singular. Consultants are more likely to use the phrase political communications, adding an s to speak of the concept in the plural. The plural form is rarely used in the academic community, and the different forms of expression reflect one of the philosophical differences between the academic and the consulting communities. Academicians view political “communication” (singular form) as a collective noun describing a single academic discipline; when more specificity is needed, it is used (still in its singular form) to represent a holistic process, an abstraction that captures all the variables and factors related to the discipline. For consultants, political “communications” (plural form) refers to the messages used by candidates and their campaign to communicate with the voting public. Any particular political communication (singular form) is a singular noun referring to a specific message. Thus, when the academic and consulting communities sit down to discuss the topic, they frequently do so with different semantic meanings attached to the term. Unless both are aware of those differences, they may find themselves talking about different things.

Philosophically, academicians are more likely to approach the topic from an outside perspective with the intent of describing the process so it can be understood better and making suggestions to improve the process. Political professionals (candidates and consult...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part I An Overview of Political Communication Issues
• Part II The Campaign Team
• Part III Campaign Concerns
• Index