The 2004 Presidential Campaign

This timely study provides a valuable scholarly reprieve from the daily journalism that still shapes our understanding of the 2004 elections. Denton has assembled a group of seasoned and thoughtful communication scholars who dispassionately assess elements of what was a white-hot campaign. With admirable clarity they place the battle for the White House in the essential contexts of its pivotal moments and its role as a measure of recent shifts in the national mood. Readers will find reasons for both hope and concern in this book's insightful discussion of the evolving machinery of presidential elections. -- Gary C. Woodward, The College of New Jersey and author of the Perfect Response and Center Stage: Media and the Performance of American Politics Bob Denton has assembled a terrific team of academics to take a look back at the critical election of 2004. The volume is brimming with instructive political insights about one of the most heated presidential elections of our lifetime. Billions of dollars were spent to convince Americans to vote for Bush or Kerry, and this book helps explain the communication strategies at work behind the scenes and on TV. What a perfect, timely book for a wide range of both undergraduate and graduate politics courses! -- Larry J. Sabato, director, University of Virginia Center for Politics The thirteen chapters by a broad range of scholars do a good job of analyzing one mega-event from a wide variety of perspectives without stepping on one another's intellectual toes. Using a mix of empirical and qualitative approaches, the selections take on enduring topics (political conventions, presidential debates, the Electoral College, and campaign television advertising) but augment these discussions with innovative and emerging topics (cyberpolitics, campaign films, campaigns in popular culture, and the role of first ladies as communicators). The selections are well written... Recommended. CHOICE As usual, Bob Denton delivers a quality project. This edited volume brings together the usual suspects along with a liberal sprinkling of new talent. Although each chapter reflects well the personalities of the authors, the writing is of uniform high quality-a mark of a Denton edition. Advanced undergraduates as well as academic professionals will benefit from this book. -- Jim A. Kuypers, Virginia Tech