Course Number: POL 345   Credit Hours: 3   Semester: Spring, 2008

     Office hours: 

•  9:30 a.m. – 11:00 p.m. Tu-Th
• 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. W
•  1:00 p.m. –  2:00 p.m. W
•  by appointment on other weekdays

1. Modern political campaigns are based on the application of the assumptions and techniques of the communication sciences.
2. The short-term effects of political campaigns on voter attitudes are greatest on the persons who are least interested in and committed to democratic electoral processes.
3. Campaigns permit voters to adjust their perceptions of political candidates to long-term political prejudices and vice versa.
4. Campaigns are a significant form of symbolic reassurance to the stability of democratic regimes.
5. Professional expertise increasingly directs all phases of modern political campaigns.  
6. Political scientists may underestimate the impact of political campaigning on voting behavior.
7. The development of modern campaign technology introduces serious problems for the future of our democratic system. 

The Candidate: 1/15 & 17

David Garth, John Anderson's Campaign Manager in 1980 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bayard_Anderson   

Dan Nimmo, "Campaigns and Persuasion," in The Political Persuaders, Chap. 1 [PDF].

Dan Nimmo and Robert L. Savage, "What People See in Political Figures:  The Content of Candidate Images," in Candidates and Their Images (Pacific Palisades, CA:  Goodyear, 1976) Chap. 3 [PDF]. 

Suggested Readings: 

Dennis Johnson, "Celebrity Consultants and Professionally Driven Campaigns," in No Place for Amateurs, chap. 1.  

Scott Wolf, "How to Hire and Manage Political Consultants" [PDF]. 

Dennis Johnson, "Running for Office:  Not for the Faint of Heart," in No Place for Amateurs, chap. 2.  

Dennis Johnson, "The Money Chase," in No Place for Amateurs, chap. 8. 

Catherine Webb and Joseph Mockus, "A Guide to Recruiting and Managing Campaign Volunteers" [PDF] and Campaign Systems.  

Suggested Readings:  

"As the cost of running for public office continues to rise, the Center for Public Integrity decided to focus on the professionals hired by campaigns to run the show. Examining spending for the 2003-2004 federal races, the Center found that about half of all expenditures went to political consultants, principally to those who create and place television advertising." Source: http://www.publicintegrity.org/consultants/

Dennis Johnson, "Leading Political Consulting Firms" in No Place for Amateurs, Appendix B (pp. 241 - 262). 

Michael Cordts, "Running a Registration Drive," in Larry Sabato, Campaigns and Elections: A Reader in Modern American Politics, chap. 24 [PDF]. See National Voter Registration Act ("Motor Voter") (PL 103-31)and Help America Vote Act of 2002. 

Carol Hess, "The Art of Campaign Scheduling" [PDF].

Visit The Campaign Finance Institute and its Campaign Finance eGuide and its report, House Winners Average $1 Million for the First Time.   

Visit Small Donors and Online Giving by the Institute for Politics and Democracy & the Internet at http://www.cfinst.org/president/pdf/IPDI_SmallDonors.pdf 

One of Joe Trippi's favorites, Meetup.com.  Also see the http://republican.meetup.com/ and the http://democrat.meetup.com/ pages.   

For further study of campaign management, consider:  George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management, University of Florida's Graduate Program in Political Campaigning, University of Akron's Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics, and Fordham's Elections and Campaign Management.    

Join the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC). 

First Examination (on Parts II & III): 3/4/2008 (revised date)

Dennis Johnson, "Political Research: Digging Up Dirt," in No Place for Amateurs, chap. 4. 

Michael J. Bayer and Joseph Rodota, "Computerized Opposition Research," in Larry Sabato, Campaigns and Elections: A Reader in Modern American Politics, chap. 4 [PDF]. 

Jonathan Robbin, "Geodemographics: The New Magic," in Larry Sabato, Campaigns and Elections: A Reader in Modern American Politics, chap. 15 [PDF]. Visit Claritas.com for more on Robbin's geodemographics.  

Dennis Johnson, "Testing Public Opinion," in No Place for Amateurs, chap. 5.    

Mark J. Wattier, "Voter Targeting Using Q-Method" [PDF].

Mark J. Wattier, "Discovering Campaign Themes:  Reinforcement with Q Method" [PDF]. 

Second Examination (on Part IV): 4/8/08 (revised date)

Dennis Johnson, "The Media:  Old and New" in No Place for Amateurs, chap. 6.

Dennis Johnson, "Reaching Out to Voters" in No Place for Amateurs, chap. 7. 

Learning the ABC's of Propaganda Analysis 

Leonard W. Doob. 1950. Goebbels' Principles of Propaganda. Public Opinion Quarterly 14: 419-442. [PDF]

Craig R. Smith, "Speechwriting," in Larry Sabato, Campaigns and Elections: A Reader in Modern American Politics, chap. 6 [PDF]. 

Visit:  http://www.ket.org/fancyfarm/ and http://www.fancyfarm.net/ 

Larry Sabato, "How Direct Mail Works," in Larry Sabato, Campaigns and Elections: A Reader in Modern American Politics, chap. 13 [PDF].

Lorene Duquin, Lorene H. 1982. Door-to-Door Campaigning. Campaigns & Elections, 3(1), 15-20. [PDF]

ORGANIZING YOUR PRECINCT 

Radio and Drive Time:  In Exurbs, Life Framed by Hours in the Car

Wikipedia on Drive Time   

Why Tuesday? Voting on a Tuesday is as much a part of America as little league and the prairie plains. Yet holding national elections on Tuesdays is not required by the U.S. Constitution. Instead, this election day was established in 1845 by federal law. In those rural, agrarian years, Tuesday was a convenient day for most eligible voters -- rural workers and land-owning gentry -- to journey to the county seat and vote. 

David S. Broder, "Why Vote on Tuesdays?" Washington Post, November 10, 2005, A29.  

Marni Ezra and Candice J. Nelson, "Do Campaigns Matter?" in Thurber and Nelson, Campaigns and Elections American Style, chap. 18. [PDF]

Dan Nimmo, "Professionally Mediated Campaigns: Effects and Consequences," in The Political Persuaders, Chap. 5 [PDF].

Freedman, Paul, Michael Franz, and Kenneth Goldstein. Campaign Advertising and Democratic Citizenship. American Journal of Political Science, 2004, 48(4), 723-741. 

Suggested Readings: 

Aristotle's Rhetoric  

Over Half A Million TV Spots Have Been Aired in 2004 Presidential Race 

The Living Room Candidate:  Presidential Campaign commercials, 1952 - 2004

Geer, John G., and James H. Geer. Remembering Attack Ads:  An Experimental Investigation of Radio. Political Behavior, 2003, 25, 69-95. 

Sigelman, Lee, and Emmett H. Buell.  You Take the High Road and I’ll Take the Low Road? The Interplay of Attack Strategies and Tactics in Presidential Campaigns. Journal of Politics, 2003, 65, 518-531. 

Devlin, L. Patrick. Contrasts in Presidential Campaign Commercials of 2000. American Behavioral Scientist, 2001, 44, 2338-2369. 

Devlin, L. Patrick. Contrasts in Presidential Campaign Commercials of 2004. American Behavioral Scientist, 2005, 49, 279-313.  

Winneg, Kenneth, Kate Kenski, and Kathleen Hall Jamieson. Detecting the Effects of Deceptive Presidential Advertisements in the Spring of 2004. American Behavioral Scientist, 2005, 49(1), 114-129. 

Term Papers Due: 5/1/08 at 11:00 a.m. in class  

Third Examination (over Parts: V & VI): 5/5/08 starting at 10:30 a.m.

VIII. Instructional activities: We shall study the American style of campaigning in multiple ways, including but not limited to lectures, class discussions, reports, assigned readings, and web sites.

IX. Field and clinical experiences: Some electioneering possible.

X. Resources: Course resources include an instructor with over twenty years experience, a web site created to complement this course, the College's microcomputer lab, an excellent book, and students ready, willing, and able to learn.

XI. Grading procedures:  The final course grade is based on the points accumulated according to the following scale:  

Examinations (300 total points): This course has three in-class examinations. Each examination will cover the assigned reading and lecture material of its lecture unit. In other words, the examinations are not comprehensive. Each examination will have three sections: (1) concept identification, (2) conceptual distinctions, and (3) an analytical essay.  In the concept identification section you will be asked to define seven of ten concepts from the reading and lecture. In the conceptual distinction section you will be asked to identify the basic distinction among three of five pairs of concepts. In the essay section you will be asked to analyze a campaign problem with the concepts tested in the previously mentioned sections. For instance, the ability to project a "positive" image is considered an element of electability. I might ask you to discuss whether and to what extent a particular candidate has this particular characteristic. In the essay section, you will usually have a choice of questions to answer.  In short, these are answer-creation examinations, not answer-recognition examinations; I fundamentally agree with Wayne C. Johnson, Vice President for Wordlwide University Relations at Hewlett-Packard, who opined, "This isn't a multiple-choice world."  Each examination is worth 100 points.  

Make-up examinations: If you miss an examination, its make-up must be arranged in consultation with the instructor.  If you miss the make-up examination, a score of zero will be assigned the missed examination. 

Term Paper Assignment (100 total points):  Students must complete one of the following term paper assignments.  By Thursday, February 14, please provide written notice of which paper assignment you intend to complete. 

• Book Report: Select one of the major journalistic accounts of a presidential election and review it in terms of the conceptual framework presented by Nimmo, The Political Persuaders. The instructor must approve (OK, MJW) the selected book. Any of the books written by T. H. White (e.g., The Making of the President 1960) would be acceptable. 

• Candidate Image Study:  Select a presidential candidate's image strategy and tactics and examine them in terms of the conceptual framework presented in Nimmo and Savage, Candidate and Their Images.  The instructor must approve (OK, MJW) the selected campaign.  This assignment could cover a prior campaign or one still emerging (e.g., http://www.hillary.org/ and http://www.mypoliscilab2008.com).  

The paper must follow the Style Manual for Political Science:  The department has adopted the Style Manual for Political Science for formal papers, effective Fall 2005.  Term papers must be typed.  Hand-written papers will not be accepted.  A recommended minimum length for the report is from 10 to 12 type-written pages.  The paper must be your own work (see Statement on Plagiarism [PDF]) and well written (see The Write Stuff [PDF]).  Papers for which there is substantial evidence of plagiarism could earn no points.  The paper is due Thursday, May 1, 2008, at 11:00 a.m. in class.  Late papers will be penalized 15 points for each day the paper is late.  

Impressive class participation as bonus points: Prior to each class read each assignment carefully and, to the best of your ability, be prepared to discuss the assignment in class.  The attendance sheet will indicate what the next reading assignment shall be.  By class participation I mean both asking and answering questions grounded in each reading assignment.  I sincerely welcome and wish to encourage your participation in class discussions. Class participation counts as bonus points; it can only help your grade.  Class attendance is surely a necessary condition for class participation; however, class attendance without participation does not earn class participation credit.  You may earn 5 points for each impressive act of class participation.  An "impressive" act is one that demonstrates careful study of the assigned reading material.  "Impressive, most impressive," young Skywalker!  Class participation is the only form of extra credit offered so please take advantage each opportunity!

XII. Attendance policy (30 total points):  Students are expected to attend class. Students are expected to affix their signatures to a sign-in sheet.  If you miss a class for a reason covered by MuSU's attendance policy (see 2007-2009 Undergraduate Bulletin, pp. 9-10), please write a note that clearly explains the absence on the next day's sign-in sheet.  One point is earned for each day except some selected days could be worth as much as 5 points (e.g., post-examination class periods or pre-and-post spring break class periods).    

XIII. Textbook: The textbook is No Place for Amateurs(2e), by Dennis W. Johnson.  The Course Outline (See Section VII) includes lecture topics and reading assignments.  Articles from Campaigns & Elections, the leading journal on this subject, and articles from other sources will also be assigned. 

XIV. Prerequisites: None

XV. Academic Honesty policy:  The Academic Honesty policy, as adopted by the Board of Regents, February 14, 1975, is incorporated into this syllabus (see 2007-2009 Undergraduate Bulletin, p. 9).

XVI. Students with Disabilities:  Students with bona fide disabilities should inform me privately and appropriate arrangements will be made.

XVII. Cell Phones:  Please turn off cell phones when class begins.