This is an advanced guide to running political campaigns. It provides invaluable, practical advice from the leading professionals in the industry, together with thousands of vote-winning, money-saving, time-conserving tips. Chapters include new articles and knowledge gleaned from the most recent elections. Covering small-budget local and district races to big-budget statewide and national campaigns.

Written for political candidates, this is the one book every politician needs to navigate the treacherous waters of modern political campaigning. Providing practical insights and vote-winning tips, this book is an invaluable resource for candidates -- newcomers, challengers and experienced incumbents alike -- pursuing a political career at any level. As campaigns have become more expensive, sophisticated, and competitive, today's candidates need a clear understanding of the challenges they will face -- as well as the tools and techniques available to them. Put together in one place for the first time, assembling a winning campaign, from big picture items to the smallest details. The book has been written by a leading expert on political campaigning with a broad blend of experience.

This unique reader examines a broad sample of campaigns and gives students a real flavor of campaign politics by including some of the most interesting, colorful, and surprising races. Combining on-the-ground accounts with links to scholarship, the nineteen case studies drawn from Campaigns and Elections magazine take students behind the scenes to unveil the strategies, techniques, and personalities that drive contemporary campaigns. National, state, and local races receive attention, as do state and local referenda. In their introduction, the editors-a distinguished group of scholars and experts on campaign management-provide helpful background information about the cases. They look at the major influences on and general trends in contemporary electoral politics, including issues, parties, campaign finance, incumbency, and initiative voting. Understanding these factors will help students recognize how each case fits into a broader whole even as that case reflects a uniqueness that makes political campaigns so fascinating. The cases are illustrated with photos, clips from print and television campaign ads, excerpts from campaign literature, and various tables and scoreboards with polling and election return data.