9780190272692

0190272694

"Though they work largely out of the public eye, political consultants-"image merchants" and "kingmakers" to candidates-play a crucial role in shaping campaigns. They persuaded Barry Goldwater to run for president, groomed former actor Ronald Reagan for the California governorship, helped derail Bill Clinton's health care initiative, and carried out the swiftboating of John Kerry. As Dennis Johnson argues in this history of political consulting in the United States, they are essential to modern campaigning, often making positive contributions to democratic discourse, and yet they have also polarized the electorate with their biting messages. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, political campaigns were run by local political parties, volunteers, and friends of candidates; but as party loyalties among voters began to weaken, and political parties declined as sources of manpower and strategy, professional consultants swept in to carry the day. Political consulting emerged as a profession in the 1930s with writers Leone Baxter and Clem Whitaker, the husband and wife team who built their business, in part, with a successful campaign to destroy Upton Sinclair's 1934 bid for governor of California. With roots in advertising and public relations, political consulting has since developed into a highly professionalized business worth hundreds of millions of dollars. In fact, some of the top campaign consulting outfits have more recently come full circle and merged to create new public relations firms, serving not just candidates but also shaping public advocacy campaigns for businesses and nonprofits. Johnson, an academic who has also worked on campaigns alongside the likes of James Carville and pollster Peter D. Hart, suffuses his history with the stories of the colorful characters who have come to define the profession of consulting, from its beginning to its present. This will be the most complete and sweeping story of the profession to date. Moving beyond the making of a political business, this book also describes the very contours of modern American politics."-- Provided by publisher.

"During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, political campaigns were run by local political parties, volunteers, and friends of candidates; but as party loyalties among voters began to weaken, and political parties declined as sources of manpower and strategy, professional consultants swept in to carry the day. Political consulting emerged as a profession in the 1930s with writers Leone Baxter and Clem Whitaker, the husband and wife team who built their business, in part, with a successful campaign to destroy Upton Sinclair's 1934 bid for governor of California. With roots in advertising and public relations, political consulting has since developed into a highly professionalized business worth hundreds of millions of dollars. In fact, some of the top campaign consulting outfits have more recently come full circle and merged to create new public relations firms, serving not just candidates but also shaping public advocacy campaigns for businesses and nonprofits. Johnson, an academic who has also worked on campaigns alongside the likes of James Carville and pollster Peter D. Hart, suffuses his history with the stories of the colorful characters who have come to define the profession of consulting, from its beginning to its present. This will be the most complete and sweeping story of the profession to date. As such it tells not just the making of a political business but the very contours of modern American politics."-- Provided by publisher.

Machine generated contents note:

List of Tables

Preface and Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART 1: EARLY BUSINESS OF POLITICAL CONSULTING, 1930s-1960s

Ch. 1 In the Beginning, Whitaker & Baxter

Ch. 2 Measuring Public Opinion, Private and Public Pollsters

Ch. 3 Radio, Television and Campaigning, 1920s-1960

Ch. 4 The Pioneers

Ch. 5 Consultants and Presidential Campaigns, 1964 and 1968, and Consulting Abroad

PART 2: THE EXPANSION AND GROWTH OF CONSULTING, 1970s-1980s

Ch. 6 Money, Campaigns and the Next Generation of Consultants

Ch. 7 Evolution of Polling

Ch. 8 The Media Revolution

Ch. 9 Voter Contact: Targeting, Direct Mail, and Phone Banks

Ch. 10 Consultants and Presidential Campaigns, 1972, 1976, and 1980

Ch. 11 Consulting, Ballot Issues and Local Government

Ch. 12 Consultants and Presidential Campaigns, 1984 and 1988

PART 3: TRANSFORMATION OF CONSULTING AND THE CHALLENGES AHEAD, 1990

PRESENT

Ch. 13 New Generation of Consultants

Ch. 14 Consultants and Presidential Campaigns, 1992 and 1996

Ch. 15 Technological Advances

Ch. 16 Issue Campaigns and Government Affairs; Consultants Going Corporate

Ch. 17 Consultants and Presidential Campaigns, 2000 and 2004

Ch. 18 Consulting Internationally

Ch. 19 Consultants and Presidential Campaigns, 2008 and 2012

Ch. 20 Outside Groups, Plutocrats and Dark Money; Consultants and the 2016 Presidential Campaign

Ch. 21 Political Consulting Today

Appendix A: Key Consultants and Senior Advisers for Presidential Candidates, 1952-2016

Appendix B: American Association of Political Consultants Hall of Fame Inductees

Notes

Index.

Political consultants > United States > History > 20th century.

Political consultants > United States > History > 21st century.

Public relations and politics > United States > History > 20th century.

Public relations and politics > United States > History > 21st century.

Political campaigns > United States > History > 20th century.

Political campaigns > United States > History > 21st century.

Political culture > United States > History > 20th century.

Political culture > United States > History > 21st century.

POLITICAL SCIENCE > Political Ideologies > Democracy.

POLITICAL SCIENCE > Political Process > Elections.

POLITICAL SCIENCE > Political Process > Political Advocacy.