This second edition of Attack Politics updates Emmett Buell and Lee
Sigelman's highly regarded study of negativity in presidential
campaigns since 1960 with a substantial new chapter on the 2008
contest between Barack Obama and John McCain. That campaign, the
authors contend, proved to be the least negative in the last half
century and reinforces their central argument that these campaigns
have actually not grown "dirtier" and more negative since the
election of JFK.
In this new edition, Buell and Sigelman address the same
questions that guided their research in the original book. Who
attacked whom? How frequently? On what issues? In what ways? And at
what point in the race? They also update their analysis of whether
presidential campaigns have gotten more negative since 1960,
whether opposing sides addressed the same issues or avoided
subjects "owned" by the other side, and whether trailing candidates
wage more negative campaigns than leading candidates.
The authors expand their analysis well beyond their original
research base-17,000 campaign statements extracted from nearly
11,000 news items in the New York Times-focusing on both
presidential and vice-presidential nominees as sources and targets
of attacks and examining the actions of surrogate campaigners. They
also compare their findings with previously published accounts of
these campaigns-including firsthand accounts by candidates and
their confidants. Each chapter features "echoes from the campaign
trail" that reflect the invective exchanged by rival campaigns.
Their new chapter shows that, rather than neatly resembling
either of their typology's extremes ("runaways" or "dead heats"),
the 2008 race began as a "dead heat" in late summer but began to
take on all the characteristics of a "somewhat competitive" affair
by the end of September. Campaign discourse that began with an
anticipated focus on the Iraq War and other national security
issues came to be dominated by concerns about the economic
meltdown. As the campaign headed toward the home stretch, anxiety
about the economy seemed to eclipse national security, health care,
immigration, and other concerns. This shift of emphasis, they
argue, doomed whatever chance McCain had of winning.
Like the first edition, this update of Attack Politics
systematically analyzes negative campaigning, pinning down much
that has previously been speculated on but left unsubstantiated. It
offers the best overview yet of modern presidential races and
remains must reading for anyone interested in the vagaries of those
campaigns.
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