The Spectacle of U.S. Senate Campaigns
This book offers a bold, comprehensive look at how campaigns actually work, from the framing of issues to media coverage to voters' decisions. In so doing, it challenges the common wisdom that campaigns are a noisy, symbolic aspect of electoral politics, in which the outcomes are determined mainly by economic variables or presidential popularity. Campaigns, the authors argue, do matter in the political process. Examining contested U.S. Senate races between 1988 and 1992, Kim Kahn and Patrick...
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"Kahn and Kenney's book makes a substantial contribution to our understanding of both U.S. Senate elections and political campaigns. The authors have done a commendable job of assembling a vast array of data and make clear, convincing arguments. The book draws on sophisticated statistical techniques and yet could be used in upper-division undergraduate courses."—Alan I. Abramowitz, Emory University"A nicely textured and thorough analysis, The Spectacle of U.S. Senate Campaigns develops arguments about campaigns that greatly enrich our knowledge of their dynamics. Although the book deals with Senate elections, it will be of genuine interest to scholars who study campaigns for other offices, as well as those who are interested in voting behavior. By framing each chapter with interesting case studies of specific elections, the authors have extended the book's audience beyond specialists."—Linda Fowler, Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences, Dartmouth College Choice A welcome addition to a short list of books probing the dynamics of congressional elections.
List of FiguresList of TablesAcknowledgmentsPt. 1Understanding and Measuring Campaigns11The Nature of Political Campaigns32Measuring the Content and Consequences of Political Campaigns30Pt. 2The Campaign Strategies of Candidates413In Order to Win: An Examination of Campaign Strategies434Attack Politics: Understanding the Determinants of Negative Campaigning74Pt. 3The News Media's Coverage of Campaigns995Deciding What Is News: The Media's Coverage of Senate Campaigns1016The Struggle for Control over the News Media's Agenda: How Candidates Influence the Content and Tone of News Coverage133Pt. 4Citizens' Reactions to Campaigns1617The Dynamics of Competition: The Impact of the Candidates and the News Media1638Citizens' Knowledge about U.S. Senate Campaigns1749How Voters Make Decisions in U.S. Senate Campaigns206Pt. 5Conclusions23310Conclusions and Implications235App. AInterview Schedule for Successful Incumbents247App. BPolitical Advertising Code Sheet251App. CSample of Newspapers255App. DNewspaper Content Analysis Code Sheet257References263Index275
\ ChoiceA welcome addition to a short list of books probing the dynamics of congressional elections.\ \ \ \ \ Political Science QuarterlyThe richness of the study's findings combined with its rigor of research design and analysis makes it of equal interest to students of voting behavior and elections and students of Congress. The book is clearly written and the results of statistical analysis are presented in an accessible fashion. It is a major contribution. . . .\ — Barbara Sinclair\ \ \ Political Science Quarterly\ - Barbara Sinclair\ The richness of the study's findings combined with its rigor of research design and analysis makes it of equal interest to students of voting behavior and elections and students of Congress. The book is clearly written and the results of statistical analysis are presented in an accessible fashion. It is a major contribution. . . .\ \
