Experts

Axlerod, David. 730 N. Franklin Suite 404 Chicago, IL 60610, (312) 655-7500

In 2004, Axelrod helped State Senator Barack Obama score a landslide win in his U.S. Senate campaign, developing a message and media strategy that enabled Obama to defeat six opponents in the Democratic primary with an astounding 53% of the vote. He is currently serving as media advisor to Obama’s presidential campaign. Axlerod's expertise in media strategy is a great resource for researchers. While some political strategists deal with a multitude of areas in the campign, his expertise in media strategy is useful in showing how important a media message is to the overall success of a campaign.

Burton, Michael. Bentley Annex 221 Athens, Ohio 45701, (740) 593-1340.

Michael Burton is Political Science professor at Ohio University in Athens, Oh. He currently teaches political campaigns and leadership as well as serves the internship coordinator for the school of political science. Dr. Burton is a two-time graduate of Ohio University as well as the State University of New York at Albany. Burton has most recently served in the White House as special assistant to the chief of staff for former vice-president Al Gore. During his time in the White House, Burton coordinated travel and campaign efforts on behalf of the vice-president. Dr. Burton has also co-authored two texts; Campaign Craft: The Strategies, Tactics, and Art of Political Campaign Management and Campaign Mode: Strategic Vision in Congressional Elections. His insider experience could offer a lot to a researcher.

Carville, James. Washington Speakers Bureau 1663 Prince Street Alexandria, Virginia 22314, (703) 684-0555.

James Carville, known as the ragin cajun, has found tremendous success in past political campaigns. He is most notably remembered for his role in Bill Clinton;s 1992 presidential campign. Carville has been featured on numerous talk shows and his colorful commentary is intelligent and respected. Carville offers the perspective of a strategist in trenches and has overcame some of the most challenging circumstances a campign can face. A researcher interviewing him may want to ask about his impressive victories in races where he has overcame polling deficits in excess of 30 to 40 points.

Plouffe, David. 172 E 4th St #6I New York, NY 10009, (212) 529-5775.

David Plouffe is one of the most experienced and successful strategists in the Democratic party. As executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in the 1999-2000, Plouffe led a focused national campaign that moved a record $95 million to House races across the country, and helped add to the party's membership in the House of Representatives. Plouffe joined AKP&D Message and Media in the winter of 2000, and became a named partner of the firm upon returning in February 2004 after serving as a top strategist to Dick Gephardt in his Presidential bid. Plouffe is one of the greatest political strategists on the campaign trail today. Few other experts could offer such a valuable perspective of politics, campaigning, and strategy.

Wilhelm, David. 801 Main Street Peoria, Illinois 61606, (309) 495-7251.

Mr. Wilhelm is well known for his political career, which included managing campaigns for President Bill Clinton, Senator Paul Simon, Senator Joe Biden, Governor Rod Blagojevich and Mayor Richard Daley. In 1993, he became the youngest ever chair of the Democratic National Committee. Mr. Wilhelm earned his Bachelor’s from Ohio University and his Master’s of Public Policy from Harvard. He currently serves on numerous nonprofit boards. Wilhelm brings a unique perspective to the topic in having had such close relationships with very powerful figures in American politics.

Non-Profit Asscoaitions

Project Vote Smart. One Common Ground, Philipsburg, MT 59858, 888-868-3762.

Project Vote Smart provides unbiased profiles of every current member of the house, senate, and every candidate for any federal post. PVS does not accept funding from corporations, PACs or any organization that supports or opposes candidates or issues. Candidates are asked to fill out a survey that allows readers to access their views on a range of policy and social issues. Project Vote Smart is reliable for researchers in finding out what a particular candidate stands for and how they have voted in the past on certain legislation.

VOTE411.org. League of Women Education Fund. 1730 M Street NW, Suite 1000,
Washington, DC 20036-4508, 202-429-1965.

The League of Women Voters is strictly nonpartisan; it neither supports nor opposes candidates for office at any level of government. An important component of VOTE411.org is the polling place locator, which enables users to type in their address and retrieve the poll location for the voting precinct in which that address is located. The League has found that this is among the most sought after information in the immediate days leading up to, and on, Election Day. VOTE411.org is a "one-stop-shop" for election related information. This is a great resource for journalsits seeking to over polling locations in their area.

Government Agencies

Federal Election Commission. 999 E Street, NW, Washington, DC 20463, (800) 424-9530.

In 1975, Congress created the Federal Election Commission to administer and enforce the Federal Election Campaign Act. Today, the FEC is still the agency charged with overseeing federal election finance laws. An independent regulatory agency, the FEC ensures candidates disclose campaign finance information, enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the public funding of Presidential elections. They are one of the best resources for election and campaign laws and would be useful in familiarizing a researchers with those particular laws.

Ohio Secretary of State. 180 East Broad Street Columbus, Ohio, (614) 466-2585.

As Ohio`s chief election officer, the secretary of state oversees the elections process and appoints the members of boards of elections in each of Ohio`s 88 counties. The secretary of state supervises the administration of election laws; approves ballot language; reviews statewide initiative and referendum petitions, chairs the Ohio Ballot Board, which approves ballot language for statewide issues; canvasses votes for all elective state offices and issues; investigates election fraud and irregularities; trains election officials and reimburses counties for poll worker training costs. This agency could be useful in producing past election results as well as voter demographics in certain regions of the state.

Governemnt Documents

Federal Election Commission. (2002). Campaign Finance Law 2002. Retrieved on March 15, 2008, from http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/cfl/cfl02/cfl02.shtml.

The Federal Election Commission is the governing oversight body of national, state, and local political elections. This FEC document provides guidelines to State election laws in the year of 2002. A researcher could use this law to compare it to current law and show changes reflected in the current legislation. This documents could also be use as a source for gaining insight into the tight restrictions of campaign finance laws as well.

National Association of Secretaries of State. (2007, August 16). Provisional Voting Survey. Retrieved March 15, 2008, from http://www.nass.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=52.

The National Association of Secretaries of State produces an enormous amount of voter and election data. The Secretary of State is charged with overseeing the election process in his or her respective state. This particular survey outlines current absentee and provisional voting laws in states all across the country. This is a great resource for gainign an understanding of how election laws change from state to state as well as information on any particular state's laws.

Statistical Sources

American National Election Studies. (No Date). Retrieved March 15, 2008, from http://www.electionstudies.org/

ANES produces high quality data on voting, public opinion, and political participation to serve the research needs of a journalists, teachers, and students alike. ANES produces this statistical information in order to help the country gain a better understanding of voting behavior and its implications. They ask the tough questions and their results are widely published. This source is useful in finding nearly any type of election, campaign, or voting data a researcher desires. ANES is a non-profit foundation.

U.S. Census Bureau. (January 11, 2008). Voting and Registration Data. Retrieved March 15, 2008, from http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/voting.html.

The U.S. Census Bureau is one of the most useful sources of statistical information available. This particular website provided by the Census Bureau provides researchers with information on who votes where and and how often in addition to a slew of other voting and election statistics. Information on reported voting and registration by various demographic and socioeconomic characteristics is collected for the nation in November of congressional and presidential election years in the Current Population Survey. Estimates and projections of voting-age population derived from administrative records and Census 2000 are also provided.

International Sites

BBC News. (No date). Retrieved on March 15, 2008, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/default.stm

BBC News is the largest orgainzer of news in the entire world. Based in England, their coverage spans across all areas of the world. Readers are sure to find an abundance of American poltical election coverage. As the world's most powerful country, the leaders directing our polices are as important to those abroad as they are here at home. In a globalized world, it is imperative to have an international perspective of our political landscape when researching this topic.

The Economist. (No date). Retrieved on March 15, 2008, from http://www.economist.com/

The Economist is an Englsih publication that prints weekly and is regarded as an authoritative magazine. They consider themselves a "political, literary, and general newspaper." Established in 1843 to campaign on one of the great political issues of the day, The Economist remains, in the second half of its second century, true to the principles of its founder James Wilson. Articles in The Economist are not signed, but they are not all the work of the editor alone. The Economist is a great resource for American political news.

Online Blogs

Huffington, A. (2008, March 15). The Huffington Post. Retrieved March 15, 2008, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/politics/

Ariana Huffington has created one of the most widely read and controversial weblogs available on the internet. The left-wing commentary provides a vast resources of constantly updated political information from Washington insiders and bloggers from around the world. The link-heavy site gives visitors access to the opinions of readers everywhere in its comment section. This is a great way to see what people around the country are saying about the biggest politician stories of the day. Ariana Huffington was listed among Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2006.

Sullivan, A. ( 2008, March 15) The daily dish. Retrieved March 15, 2008, from http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/

Author Andrew Sullivan is one of the most widely read political webloggers on the internet. Sullivan is considered a pioneer in weblogging because he is one of the first prominent journalists to start his own blog. Although he was born in England, he covers mostly American politics. Sullivan served as the editor of the New Republic magazine for several years in addition to originally providing his blog through Time magazine. His conservative commentary at odds with other conservatives shows how not everyone on the same side of the political divide will always agree about policy.

Multimedia

Pennebaker, D. A. (Director). (1994). The war room [Motion Picture]. United States: Universal Studios.

The War Room shows the behind-the scenes activity in Bil Clinton's 1992 campaign for the White House. The directors were granted unprecedented access to the campaign at its highest levels featuring chief strategists George Stephanopoulos and James Carville. This inside look into the daily operations of a presidential campaign provides viewers a complete upstanding of the complexities in running a camping of this magnitude. Considered one of the best political documentaries, this film is great for anyone seeking a first-person perspective of the daily workings of a political campaign.

Rosenbaum, S. (Director). (2004). Staffers [Motion Picture]. United States: Starz/Anchor Bay

Featuring a variety of commentary, viewers gain a staffer's perspective of the campaign trail. Director Steve Rosenbaum blends together an array of staffers from several campaigns in the 2004 Democratic Primaries in this six-episode mini-series. For these young campaign workers, life becomes a daily whirlwind of town meetings and celebrity rallies, handshakes and shouting matches, surprising victories and crushing defeats. This film provides a glimpse at the public and private moments that defined one of the most decisive and unforgettable political elections in our nation's history.

Van Taylor, D., Cutler, R. J. (Directors). (1996). A perfect candidate [Motion Picture]. United States: First Run Features.

Directors Cutler and Van Taylor guide viewers through Oliver north's whirlwind bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Virginia in 1994. This truly cynical documentary provides political newcomers with a gritty portrait of the sometimes dirty tactics utilized by campaigns staffers to gain an edge on their opponent. Viewers will find comfort in the honesty of this film yet may be appalled by the dark reality of political campaigning. In one part of the film, North tells an audience of highh schoolers he did not lie to congress about Iran-Contra when minutes earlier in the film he admits to having done so. Few other films provide as gritty, honest, and sometimes uncomfortable approach to covering behind-the-scenes action of a political campaign.

Books

Burton, M. J., & Shea, M. (2003). Campaign mode. Rowman & Littlefield

This book is an exhaustive set of case studies that deal with many of the issues current campaigns are forced to overcome. Former senior aid to Vice President Al Gore Michael Burton and former strategists Daniel Shea use their expert knowledge from within the field to reveal insider secrets and produce an enlightening scope into the world of political campaigning. For strategists, switching into campaign mode sometimes has less to do with policy and more with procedure. This book is practical in applying text-book tactics and seeing how they un-fold in real situations on the campaign trail.

Graff, G. M. (2007) The first campaign: globalization, the web, and the race for the White House . Farrar, Straus and Giroux..

Young and ambitious, author Garret Graf attempts to tackle the topic of the internet and politics. Graf describes the transformation of the political conversation in that it has become a two-way process with the increasingly popularity of online blogs, newspapers, and magazines. As more voters turn to the internet for their news and opinion pieces, candidates are approaching their campaigns with a more personal approach than they have historically. Graf also speaks about gloabalization and its role in the 2008 presidential elections. A phenomenal resource that offers a portrait of the current political landscape in relation to new media and global trade and politics.

Pelossi, C. (2007) Campaign boot camp: basic training for future leaders. Pollpoint Press.

Daughter of the first woman Speaker of the House, Christine Pelossi, provides an inside look into the campaign process by utilizing her first-hand experiences stemming from her involvement in her mother's campaigns. In the book, Pelossi provides a seven-step guide to effective campaigning at all levels of public service. Although the book is geared towards a political audience, its information could be useful in the non-profit and other areas of public service. Equipped with a personal testimonies and insider access, this is a great tool for anyone seeking to gain an understanding of the various stages in campaigning and the importance of behind the scenes efforts.

Newspaper and Magazine Articles

(2007). In praise of the primaries. Economist, 385(8560), 15-16.

The Economist is a reputable weekly newspaper featuring unsigned articles that are the works various editors and journalists employed by the publication. This piece describes the role of primaries and caucuses in nominating a candidate for president. The authors note the importance of states such as Iowa and New Hampshire and discuss how their relatively small populations force candidates to play politics face-to-face which often reveals who has the necessary charisma and who does not. The article provides an in-depth scope into the historic and current role, importance, and reason for the primaries and caucuses and would be useful for research on the nominating process.

Cannon, C. M. (2007). Think the media is out to get you? Campaigns & Elections, 28(12), 34-37.

Unlike any other publication, Campaigns & Elections is entirely devoted to covering every aspect of the election process. Author Carl Cannon is one of the most respected political journalist in the country and is currenlty the editor of Reader's Digest; the most circulated magazine in the U.S. In this piece, Cannon describes to readers the intricacies and challenges of press relations on the campaign trail regarding candidate coverage. He offers several suggestions of how to repsond in certain situations and provides a valuable journalist's perspective in dealing with campaign staff. He advises those working on campaigns to be open and honest. Cannon touches on the intertwined relationship politics and the media have in today's age.

Wayne, L. (2008). Union spends heavily for Obama in primaries. New York Times (1/1/1985 to present), [No Volume/Issue], 16-16.

The New York Times is one of the most widely read publications in the world. The paper is an excellent source for all national political news, including top-notch campaign coverage. This article discusses the enormous impact organized unions can have on an election. Recently, the Service Employees International Union has thrown its support behind Senator Obama in his bid for the White House. This piece describes how the money and sheer number of members the union provides are a great asset in the remaining primaries. Author Leslie Wyne does a great job in articulating how and why union support is vital to any serious candidate seeking a Democatreic nomination for a national office.

Trade Magazine & Scholarly Articles

De Sio, L. (2008). Are less-involved voters the key to win elections? Comparative Political Studies, 41(2), 217-241.

This article hypothesizes that although more involved, regular voters behave in accordance with their ideological beliefs and therefore are less likely to be swayed by political advertisements and campaign tactics. However, those who are less involved are more likely to be influenced by these same tactics. The article is a great overview of the concept of voter demographics and provides an understanding of why certain campaigns tend to target certain audiences in their use of rhetoric and policy proposals.

Gleason, T. R. (2005). The candidate behind the curtain: A three-step program for analyzing campaign images. Simile, 5(3),

Author Timothy Gleason discusses in this article how photo journalists often reproduce the image created for them. His article is important to the discussion of how the media plays a large role in campaigns and how candidates manipulate the media into creating a desired image of the candidate. In the latter portion of his article, he examines a visit of George W. Bush to Oshkosh, WI and how supporters and protesters were divided in a way that photos would elicit images of the supports rather than the protesters. His conclusion argues that politician's hold these "pseudo events" to gain popularity and to craft an image contrary to reality.

Strömbäck. (2007). Political marketing and professionalized campaigning: A conceptual analysis. Journal of Political Marketing, 6(2/3), 49-67.

During the last decade, a number of scholars have argued that political marketing has become increasingly professionalized and that political marketing has become the leading strategy in approaching campaigns. Strömbäck discusses how this concept could provide difficulties in trying understand election results in other democracies that posses different political institutions than the U.S. or Great Britain. He also discusses the blurred distinction that occurs between political marketing, market orientation, and marketing techniques. This article is useful in mapping the progression of political marketing over the last two decades.

Specialized Print Reference Books

Benenson, B. (2008). Elections A to Z (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: CQ Press

Author Bob Benenson has been CQ's politics editor since 1998 and was co-founder of CQPolitics.net. Benenson has been a leading figure in covering politics and elections for over three decades and shares his professional insight in this remarkable reference source. No area of political campaigning goes unturned in this 700 page volume. In this edition, Benenson discusses the shift of power that occurred in the 2006 midterm elections as well as developments in primary scheduling, financial reform, and voting technology.

Herrnson, P., Cambell, C., Ezra, M., Medvic, S. (Eds.). (2005). Guide to political campaigns in America. Washington, DC: CQ Press.

This reference title offers readers a complete resource for practical insight into every vital aspect of political campaigning, political activity, and elections in general. Its publisher, CQ Press, is regarded as a leader in producing reliable and accurate publications on an array of topics relating to American government. The most useful items included in this book are a description of the historical evolution of campaigning, regulatory information on campaigns elections, campaign reform, and a list of key strategies and tactics used by many of today's candidates such as polling techniques and fund-raising.

Specialized Online Reference Sites

CQ Press (n.d.). CQ Press election suite of online resources. Retrieved March 12, 2008, from http://library.cqpress.com/prs/index.php

The CQ Press Election Suite of Online Resources is a collection of several online reference sites covering many different areas of politics. This collection brings together some of the most renowned print resources and contains scholarly content for accurate research. Available content includes access to in-depth political information for over 200 countries, unbiased profiles of members of congress, in addition to research on U.S. elections and public opinion. CQ Press is a valuable resource for journalists because they are known to be accurate, in-depth, and objective. They are a leader in published material in all areas of American government.

University of Michigan Library (2008, March 12) . Elections 2008. Retrieved March 12, 2008, from http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/elec2008.html

This Web site in an online compendium of resources put together by the University of Michigan's Government Documents Center. It boasts a comprehensive list of online resources ranging from policy and campaign issues to background information on candidates at all levels of government as well as a variety of sources that offer a historical perspective of campaigns and elections. This is an outstanding resource for someone beginning their search for information on the 2008 elections or seeking to gain a historical perspective on the election process.