What are some great books about political marketing?

March 21, 2005 1:26 PM

I'm looking for a few good books or articles - either on the web, or in paper publications - about political marketing.

I've done a few searches on google and turned up some interesting things, namely about political branding. I'm taking an intro to marketing class right now and just find myself really interested by the topic and I'd like to learn more. Does anyone have any good suggestions for places of where I can start my reading?

posted by tozturk to law & government (7 answers total)

Work by Kathleen Hall Jamieson, especially Packaging the Presidency: A History and Criticism of Presidential Campaign Advertising.

Joe McGinnis, The Selling of the President, is a classic on the Nixon campaign - albeit a bit dated now.
posted by googly at 1:51 PM on March 21, 2005

Two suggestions, more anecdotal than textbook:

Joe Trippi, Dean's campaign manager, wrote a book earlier this year. Haven't read it but he was on the NPR circuit when it came out and it sounded interesting.

Stephanopulous talks about strategies for the '92 Clinton campaign in his book.
posted by SashaPT at 1:52 PM on March 21, 2005

You might direct your question ("What books or articles would you recommend that I read?") to the campaign managers of your the two Senators for Philadelphia and the current mayor, if you can google (or otherwise find out) who they are. If you're interested in issues rather than (or in addition to) office-holders, you might contact the governmental coordinator/liason/lobbyist person for organizations that spark your interest (for example, if Social Security, then AARP) and ask a similar question.
posted by WestCoaster at 4:21 PM on March 21, 2005

Westcoaster, thanks for your suggestion - but I don't think they'd be willing to tell me the information I want to know. I'm very interested in the specific branding of candidates - ie, what people associate with x candidate and whether or not certain associations are more or less likely to get a group of people to "buy" - vote for - that candidate.
posted by tozturk at 5:12 PM on March 21, 2005

Granted, it's not a book, but Frontline did a piece about marketing and it's presence in politics. Here's the link to the interview with one of the players in that game.
posted by sillygit at 8:43 PM on March 21, 2005

Try Campaign Craft. It's excellent.

If it matters, I'm a speechwriter.

On an unrelated note, don't study marketing without reading Harry Beckwith. Hell, even if you're not going to study marketing: Read Harry Beckwith.
posted by cribcage at 9:10 PM on March 21, 2005

I'm not even sure if you're still reading this thread, but if you are, what you were talking about sounded a lot like the subject matter of George Lakoff's Moral Politics — he wrote a more user-friendly version of his text called Don't Think of an Elephant. Browse through them at a bookstore — they might be what you're looking for.
posted by WCityMike at 3:08 PM on April 2, 2005