Back in the Game

Brian J. Brox

Description

The years from 1996 to 2008 mark an important watershed in American politics. During this period changes in the political, demographic, regulatory, and technological landscape created an opportunity for political parties to increase their relevance in the electoral system. In Back in the Game, Brian J. Brox argues that while political parties still provide services to candidates, as they did in the 1970s and 1980s, they have now become influential and independent campaigners in their own right. In addition to providing services, parties now work with candidates as true partners, and increasingly parties act independently of their candidates to pursue collective party goals. Drawing on sources such as interviews with top party staffers and Federal Election Commission data, Brox carefully reveals how modern parties choose among races in an effort to allocate resources in a way that satisfies individual candidates, while simultaneously advancing broader party goals.
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments

1. The Parties Strike Back

2. What We Know – and Don’t Know – About Party Campaigning

3. The Money Shuffle

4. Donating Money in All the Right Places

5. A Complex Game

6. Going It Alone

7. The Parties as Partners Era

Appendix: Summary of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act and Related Supreme Court Decisions

Notes
References
Index

Sujets

• Activism
• Political party

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 19 mars 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438446097
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

BACK IN THE GAME
Political Party Campaigning in an Era of Reform
BRIAN J. BROX
S TATE U NIVERSITY OF N EW Y ORK P RESS

Cover photograph: 2008 Republican political convention, by Carol M. Highsmith. From the Carol M. Highsmith Library of Congress America Collection. Used by permission.
Published by S TATE U NIVERSITY OF N EW Y ORK P RESS , A LBANY
© 2013 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Production, Laurie Searl Marketing, Anne M. Valentine
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Brox, Brian J., 1975–
Back in the game : political party campaigning in an era of reform / Brian J. Brox.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-4607-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Political campaigns—United States—History—21st century. 2. Political parties—United States—History—21st century. I. Title.
JK2281.B78 2013
321.70973—dc23
2012017400
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Christy
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURES Figure 3.1 National Political Party Transfers to State and Local Parties Figure 3.2 Senate Campaign Committee Transfers to State and Local Parties Figure 3.3 House Campaign Committee Transfers to State and Local Parties Figure 4.1 Direct Contributions from National Committees Figure 4.2 Sum of Direct Contributions from National Committees Figure 4.3 Direct Contributions from Senate Campaign Committees Figure 4.4 Sum of Direct Contributions from Senate Campaign Committees Figure 4.5 Mean Direct Contribution from Senate Campaign Committees by Race Competitiveness Figure 4.6 Direct Contributions from House Campaign Committees Figure 4.7 Sum of Direct Contributions from House Campaign Committees Figure 4.8 Mean Direct Contributions from House Campaign Committees by Race Competitiveness Figure 5.1 National Committee Coordinated Expenditures to Nonpresidential Candidates Figure 5.2 Sum of National Committee Coordinated Expenditures to Nonpresidential Candidates Figure 5.3 Coordinated Expenditures from Senate Campaign Committees Figure 5.4 Sum of Coordinated Expenditures from Senate Campaign Committees Figure 5.5 Mean Coordinated Expenditures from Senate Campaign Committees by Race Competitiveness Figure 5.6 Coordinated Expenditures from House Campaign Committees Figure 5.7 Sum of Coordinated Expenditures from House Campaign Committees Figure 5.8 Mean Coordinated Expenditures from House Campaign Committees by Race Competitiveness Figure 6.1 Independent Expenditures and Issue Advocacy, Presidential Campaigns Figure 6.2 Independent Expenditures from Senate Campaign Committees Figure 6.3 Sum of Independent Expenditures from Senate Campaign Committees Figure 6.4 Independent Expenditures from House Campaign Committees Figure 6.5 Sum of Independent Expenditures from House Campaign Committees
TABLES Table 3.1 Explaining National Political Party Transfers to State and Local Parties Table 3.2 Explaining Senate Campaign Committee Transfers to State and Local Parties Table 3.3 Explaining House Campaign Committee Transfers to State and Local Parties Table 4.1 Date of Direct Contribution by Party Committee Table 4.2 Mean Direct Contribution from Senate Campaign Committees by Candidate Status Table 4.3 Explaining Senate Campaign Committee Direct Contributions Table 4.4 Mean Direct Contribution from House Campaign Committees by Candidate Status Table 4.5 Explaining House Campaign Committee Direct Contributions Table 4.6 Correlation between Forms of Political Party Support Table 5.1 National Committee Coordinated Expenditures—Presidential Candidates Table 5.2 Democratic National Committee Coordinated Expenditures—Nonpresidential Candidates Table 5.3 Explaining Republican National Committee Coordinated Expenditures—Nonpresidential Candidates Table 5.4 Mean Coordinated Expenditure from Senate Campaign Committees by Candidate Status Table 5.5 Explaining Senate Campaign Committee Coordinated Expenditures Table 5.6 Mean Coordinated Expenditure from House Campaign Committees by Candidate Status Table 5.7 Explaining House Campaign Committee Coordinated Expenditures Table 6.1 Republican National Committee Independent Expenditures—Non-Presidential Candidates Table 6.2 Explaining Senate Campaign Committee Independent Expenditures Table 6.3 Explaining House Campaign Committee Independent Expenditures
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book would not have been possible without the cooperation, assistance, and support of a number of individuals to whom I am profoundly grateful. First, I wish to thank several current and former political party staffers who provided keen insights into the working of their respective organizations: Jeff Berkowitz, Jeff Burton, Mike DuHaime, Rob Jesmer, John Lapp, Tom McMahon, Brian Noyes, James Quinn, and Keelan Sanders.
Second, I wish to thank numerous academic colleagues whose advice helped improve this book. At the University of Texas at Austin, I wish to thank several faculty members and former graduate students, including Neal Allen, Brian Arbour, Joe Giammo, Danny Hayes, Tse-min Lin, Robert Luskin, Seth McKee, Mark McKenzie, Phil Paolino, Brian Roberts, Jeremy Teigen, Mike Unger, Don Zinman and especially Daron Shaw, who provided helpful criticism and numerous suggestions that greatly strengthened this book. At Tulane University, I wish to thank current and former colleagues Mary Clark, Patrick Egan, Chris Fettweis, Tom Langston, Celeste Lay, Casey Love, Martín Mendoza-Botelho, Nancy Maveety, Tony Pereira, Raul Sanchez Urribarri, Aaron Schneider, Martyn Thompson, Mark Vail, and Dana Zartner. Tulane also made significant resources available to make this research possible, and I appreciate the support provided by the Charles E. Dunbar Jr. Lecture and Research Fund in Political Science, the Research Enhancement Fund, the Committee on Research Summer Fellowship, the School of Liberal Arts Book Subvention Grant, and the Provost's Fund for Faculty/Student Scholarly Engagement. I also thank Michael Franz, who as a discussant at the Midwest Political Science Association annual meeting provided useful comments on an early draft of the third chapter of this book.
Third, I wish to acknowledge the assistance of a number of people at Tulane University and at State University of New York Press. At Tulane, Caroline Allen, Rachel Applestein, Megan Boudreaux, Saisha Chandrasekaran, M. Page Clayton, Patrick Dick, Jennie Kamin, Laura Lightbody, Austin Parker, Ben Probber, and Jennifer Sheppard provided valuable research assistance. At State University of New York Press, I thank Michael Rinella and two anonymous reviewers for helping me transform a rough manuscript into a finished book.
Last, but certainly not least, I wish to thank my family. I owe a tremendous debt to my parents, Al and Marcia, and to my sister, Ali, for their love and support through the years. I also appreciate the support of the extended Brox, Buchanan, Cyphers, and Kirk families, especially that of Rick Hoppe, who is not only a great cousin but also a keen political operative whose assistance greatly improved this book. Of course, my wife, Christy, has been my greatest source of love, support, and encouragement. I am forever grateful for her assistance and patience as I faced the arduous task of completing this manuscript.
ONE
THE PARTIES STRIKE BACK

In the aftermath of his party's defeat in the 2004 presidential election, Howard Dean launched his candidacy for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee with a bold suggestion. At a forum for eight potential successors to previous DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe, Dean suggested that the Democrats adopt “.a 50-state strategy in this country, not an 18-state strategy. If you don't run, you can't win,” ( Nagourney 2004 ). This suggestion, echoed by many of the other candidates for the DNC chairmanship, tapped into the frustrations—and aspirations—of many Democrats in late 2004. As one party strategist noted, “People are in the mood for somebody to offer a strategy for success here—not just how we win in 2006, but how do we change the party so it is competitive in the long term?” ( Marlantes 2004 ).
With the “Fifty-State Strategy,” Dean was advocating a shift in focus away from a single-minded pursuit of short-term electoral success. Instead, Dean was arguing that Democrats should campaign in areas that were not immediately competitive in hopes of making them competitive in the future. To that end, the Democratic National Committee would place renewed emphasis on building grassroots organizations 1 in all fifty states. Upon his election to the chairmanship, Dean implemented his plan, and within a year it paid dividends with Democratic wins in unlikely congressional districts ( Kamarck 2006 ; Kasindorf and Kenworthy 2006 ). Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama would continue this strategy in 2008 by implementing a fifty-state strategy during his general election campaign ( Wolffe 2008 ). But the true test of the Democrats' strategy shift would be seen beyond 2008.
Around the same time, the Republican National Committee was in the midst of a project that would radically alter the way it would persuade and mobi