The winning message : candidate behavior, campaign discourse, and democracy / Adam F. Simon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Simon, Adam F., 1965- author.

Series:

Communication, society and politics.

Communication, society and politics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Politics, Practical--United States.

Politics, Practical.

Political participation--United States.

Political participation.

Political campaigns--United States.

Political campaigns.

United States--Politics and government.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 181 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This study breaks new ground in investigating candidate behavior in American electoral campaigns. It centers on a question of equal importance to citizens and scholars: how can we produce better political campaigns? The project takes an innovative approach to answering this question by bringing together critical and empirical methods as well as game theory in a sophisticated yet readable text. The answer comes in four parts. First, Simon develops the idea of dialogue as a standard for evaluating political campaigns. Second, he shows that candidates' self-interest in winning leads them to avoid dialogue, that is substantive campaign discourse. Third, he demonstrates the beneficial effects produced by the little dialogue that actually occurs. Fourth, he pinpoints the forces responsible for these rare occurrences. The major lesson of this work is that campaign reform under its present guise will not bring about the more substantive campaigns that the public desires.

Contents:

Cover; Half-title; Series-title; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Figures; Tables; Acknowledgments; CHAPTER 1 Introduction; CHAPTER 2 Dialogue: A Standard for Campaign Discourse; CHAPTER 3 Understanding Campaigns: Background, Theory, and Methods; CHAPTER 4 The Ventriloquist's Hand: A Game-Theoretic Model of Campaigns; CHAPTER 5 Duck or Punch? Dialogue in a California Gubernatorial Election; CHAPTER 6 Dialogue and Its Effects in Contemporary American Elections; CHAPTER 7 Explaining and Predicting the Occurrence of Dialogue

CHAPTER 8 Conclusion: Toward More Substantive Campaign DiscourseAppendix A Analysis of the Model of Campaigns in Mass Elections; Appendix B Experimental Procedures; References; Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 171-176) and index.

ISBN:

1-107-12450-6

0-511-01997-1

1-280-41929-6

0-511-17650-3

0-511-15737-1

0-511-30449-8

0-511-61352-0

0-511-04444-5

OCLC:

52498668