The 2008 Presidential Elections A Story in Four Acts
The election of Barack Obama fundamentally changed America's relationship with the outside world. Written by a mix of scholars and practitioners, the chapters cover the entire electoral process and analyze what Obama's victory suggests about the deve
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The 2008 Presidential Elections A Story in Four Acts Edited by Erik Jones and Salvatore Vassallo
THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
Copyright © Erik Jones and Salvatore Vassallo, 2009. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-61938-8 All rights reserved. First published in 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-38213-2 ISBN 978-0-230-10317-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230103177 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: November 2009 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CON T E N T S
Figures and Tables
vii
Acknowledgments
ix
Contributors
xi
Prologue Erik Jones and Salvatore Vassallo
1
Act 1 Choosing the Candidates One
The Democratic Primaries John A. Gans Jr.
15
Two
The Republican Primaries Trevor B. McCrisken
41
Three Third Parties William C. Binning
Act 2
The National Campaigns
Four
Setting the Agenda: “Yes We Can” Jennifer Palmieri
Five
A Perfect Campaign: The Role of Money, Organization, and Strategy Alicia Kolar Prevost and James A. Thurber
Six
67
The Conventions and Debates Andrew Wroe
85
99 115
vi
Contents Act 3
And the Winner Is . . .
Seven
The Victory of Barack Obama Michael E. Shin
135
Eight
The Other Elections: Congress and the States B. Guy Peters
151
Nine
The New Administration Fabrizio Bucci
165
Act 4 The Aftermath Ten
A New Foreign Policy for the United States? Mario Del Pero
195
Eleven
A New U.S. Economy? Jonathon W. Moses
213
Twelve A New U.S. Politics and Society? Christopher J. Bailey
231
Epilogue Erik Jones and Salvatore Vassallo
247
Index
253
F IGU R E S
A N D
TA BL E S
Figures 5.1 Money raised and spent by candidates and national party committees 5.2 Candidate donors, by amount of contribution 5.3 Contribution size as share of total contributions 5.4 Voters contacted in 2004 and 2008 7.1 Electoral outcomes in 2004 and 2008 7.2 Political polarization in the United States 11.1 Federal surpluses and deficits, 1968–2007 12.1 Democratic presidential vote share, 1960–2008 12.2 Proportion of congressional seats held by Democrats 12.3 Share of governorships and state legislatures controlled by Democrats, 1975–2009
105 106 107 111 139 148 220 237 238 238
Tables 5.1 Number of campaign offices in selected battleground states
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