Political Campaign Communication: Principles and Practices

Political Campaign Communication: Principles and Practice, Ninth Edition uses a speech-communication perspective to examine how elective politics contributes to our knowledge and understanding of the electoral process. Through historical and contemporary examples, this book offers readers a realistic understanding of the strategic and tactical communication choices candidates and their managers make as they wage the campaign.

Updates to The Ninth Edition Include:

Two completely new chapters – Chapter 6 and Chapter 13 – discuss ethical considerations of political campaign communication and the practice of contemporary journalism in today’s campaigns. Political campaign communication from the ground-breaking 2016 presidential election. Expanded material on use and tactics of social media, new platforms and communication technologies.
One of the most comprehensive and consistently updated volumes available on the subject, the ninth edition of Political Campaign Communication: Principles and Practice traces political communication from its roots in public speeches and campaign whistle-stops to the current explosion of information in the viral hothouse of social media, making it essential reading for students in communication and political science courses.

ROBERT E. DENTON JR. holds the W. Thomas Rice Chair of Leadership Studies and serves as Director of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Center for Leader Development at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. In addition to numerous articles, essays, and book chapters, he is author, co-author, or editor of 12 earlier books. The most recent title is Political Communication Ethics: An Oxymoron? (Praeger, 2000).

ROBERT V. FRIEDENBERG is Professor of Communications at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. He is a former communications consultant with the Republican National Committee and coauthor, with Judith Trent, of Political Campaign Communication (Praeger, 1983 and 1991).