Permanent Campaign Research Articles

The selling of the President 2004: a marketing perspective

Abstract George W. Bush won the 2004 US Presidential election despite the facts of one thousand people losing their life in the Iraq war, the highest rate of increase in unemployment in 70 years and a vitriolic propaganda campaign (Michael Moore, etc.) against him. This case study seeks to explain the success through the prism of marketing theory and conceptual structures, that is, that the Bush team had a superior communications strategy and, within those parameters, superior marketing elements. Thus we seek to surface and integrate a number of causal explanations for his victory that arose from a political marketing orientation, specifically the offer of a ‘coherent narrative’; the conduct of a ‘permanent campaign’; more effective negative advertising (especially by pro‐Bush 527 groups), targeting and packaging; the success of the late campaign ‘big tent’ ploy. None of this however seeks to exclude the more purely political explanations for his success (located in such phenomena as the mobilization of the ‘Christian Right’ and the continuity to the aura attached to the ‘911 President’); nor is the application of marketing thought to political contexts treated uncritically. A further aim is to introduce political marketing modes of analysis to a political science audience—not to present them as a new ‘correctness’, for they are certainly vulnerable to challenge, but rather to precipitate more of an intellectual exchange between these two disciplines. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Managing Expectations: The Howard Government's Workchoices Information Campaign

This article analyses the Howard government's $55 million information campaign to sell its new industrial relations (IR) reforms. The expensive advertising campaign was spread across newspapers, television channels, radio stations and even on internet sites. It was widely criticised by media professionals, politicians and interest groups. The IR information campaign was an example of ‘permanent campaigning’ because it was an overtly partisan information campaign that appeared in the middle of an electoral cycle. It was also emblematic of the blurred lines between government and political advertising. However, the IR information campaign also revealed the limitations of incumbency advantage and the limitations to some aspects of the modern trend towards permanent campaigning. Public anger over the plethora of taxpayer-funded advertisements limited the effectiveness of the messages being delivered. The government persisted with the information campaign — perhaps a signal it was designed not to turn public opinion in favour of the reforms, but to prevent an increase in public dissatisfaction following the negative campaign being waged by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).

The Democratic State as a Marketing Tool: The Permanent Campaign in Australia

Making his first speech to Liberal Party MPs after his victory in the October 2004 Australian federal election, Prime Minister John Howard said that he was ‘a great believer in perpetual campaigning’ and that the government campaign to win the next election had already begun. The concept of the permanent campaign is important to understanding modern political communication. While an increasing number of voters are claiming to be making up their mind who to vote for in the last week of the formal election campaign, they are influenced in their decision by political messages received well before the formal campaign period. The 2004 Australian federal election displayed many features of permanent campaigning; in particular the advantage permanent campaigning affords the government over the opposition. The Government Members' Secretariat is an example of such advantage. Modern campaign methods such as focus groups, qualitative polling, voter databases, and strategic use of Senate resources for House of Representatives races are used on a permanent basis to build a communications strategy. The resources of the state, including government advertising, postal and office entitlements of members of parliament, are used to research and communicate with the electorate. While many of these techniques have been under development while also being in use for some time, it is only recently that they have been successfully coordinated to the extent that we can now say that the permanent campaign has reached Australia. This article examines this process in the lead–up to the 2004 Australian federal election.

Changing their minds? George W. Bush and the limits of presidential persuasion

Leading the public is at the core of the modern presidency. Even as they try to govern, presidents are involved in a permanent campaign. Both politics and policy revolve around presidents' attempts to garner public support for themselves and their policies. At the base of this core strategy for governing is the premise that through the permanent campaign the White House can successfully persuade or even mobilise the public. Yet one of the crowning ironies of the contemporary presidency is that at the same time that presidents increasingly attempt to govern by campaigning, public support for presidential policies is elusive. This paper explores George W. Bush's success in moving the public by, first, examining his success in obtaining support for himself through his nationally televised addresses. It then investigates several key issue areas in the Bush presidency to discover whether public opinion moved in the president's direction. The study finds that the public has been largely unresponsive to the White House and concludes by questioning the faith that many have in the broad premise of the potential of presidential leadership of the public. It is appropriate to rethink the theory of governing based on the principle of presidential success in exploiting the bully pulpit to achieve changes in public policy. Presidents not only fail to create new political capital by going public, but their efforts at persuading the public may also decrease their chances of success in bringing about changes in public policy.

Is Consensual Politicizing Being Punished in Switzerland?

Over the last decade, Switzerland has been characterized by both a radicalization of its political system and the relative success of the SP and SVP parties, which tend to adopt a strategy of permanent campaigning. Because of this, it is often argued that politicians are held accountable for their behaviour and that their electoral successes depend on their voting behaviour in parliament. We thus explore whether the voting behaviour of representatives, or citizens' evaluations of parties' ideological positions had an impact on their electoral success in the 1995, 1999, and 2003 national elections. More precisely, we assess how far the proximity and directional models explain the electoral success of incumbents and parties using roll call data for the National Council as well as the Selects surveys at the individual level. The results at both levels suggest that voters' choice is largely consistent with what is predicted by the spatial models of electoral behaviour. Swiss voters form their party preference on both proximity and direction, which supports a mixed model of electoral behaviour.

Redistributing Campaign Funds by U.S. House Members: The Spiraling Costs of the Permanent Campaign

In this article, we document and analyze the increase in the redistribution of campaign funds by U.S. House members during the 1990 through 2000 election cycles. By examining the contribution activity of members' leadership PACs and principal campaign committees, we show that House incumbents substantially increased their contributions to other House candidates and to the congressional campaign committees. The amount of money a member redistributes is a function of that member's institutional position: the greater the position's level of responsibility to the party caucus, the more campaign money the member redistributes, particularly as competition for majority control increases. Also, a member's capacity to raise surplus campaign funds, his or her support for the party's policy positions, and the level of competition for partisan control of the institution all affect the amount the member redistributes.

Keeping the Faith: The Permanent Campaign against Tax Shelters

This paper provides a narrative of recent government efforts to regain control over tax shelters, while occasionally pointing out how all of the approaches to dealing with tax shelters reflect effo...

Brand Leaders: Clinton, Blair and the Limitations of the Permanent Campaign

The ‘permanent campaign’ is said to have reached its apogee in the incumbent communications strategies of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. However, their assiduous courting of public opinion from within office has been used to explain both the high approval ratings of these leaders and their unpopularity for long periods of their incumbency. This apparent paradox suggests that the permanent campaign model is too blunt an instrument to usefully describe or evaluate incumbent communications. Its assumption of continuity between election campaigning and office-holding fails to explain how the strategic terrain changes once a challenger takes office. The concepts of branding and relationship marketing can be used to highlight the difference between gaining support in the one-off transaction of an election and retaining voter loyalty in a post-‘purchase’ setting. The success of Blair and Clinton in establishing a relationship with voters from within office can be assessed using six attributes of successful brands: simplicity; uniqueness; reassurance; aspiration; values; and credibility. As incumbents, facing challenges in shifting strategic and institutional environments, Blair and Clinton developed messages that were simple and appealed to voter aspirations. Voters remained sceptical about the extent to which these leaders embodied values and delivered on their promises.

Campaigning and Governing: An Analysis of Berlusconi's Rhetorical Leadership

SummaryThis article explores the communication strategy of Silvio Berlusconi through the analytical framework of the ‘permanent campaign’ model. Beginning with the distinction between ‘personal popularity’ and ‘political consensus’, the article looks at the different aspects of Berlusconi's political communication strategy since his election victory in May 2001 and assesses the rationale and effectiveness of his permanent campaign. The author concludes that, despite Berlusconi's strong commitment to the communication process, his leadership appears more similar to the rhetorical Presidency model than to the experiences of leaders who have shown that campaigning can also be used to govern. The article identifies two key limits: (1) the link between the drive for personal popularity and the building of support for the government's main policies appears weak; (2) all communication strategies are undermined by deep divisions within the ruling coalition.

MPs Go Back to Their Constituencies

The growth of the constituency role of MPs has been well documented since the 1960s, in particular the focus on casework. There are clear conventions that MPs should represent all their constituents and should not purport to represent other constituencies. Recent research indicates that these rules are under strain with the advent of devolution and the use of IT such as databases, emails and blogs. More generous allowances enable MPs to employ greater numbers of personal staff to process constituency casework. Parties favour this development, as simultaneously assisting with the permanent campaign and removing potential dissent from Parliament. The incumbency effect is now evident, as MPs believe that assiduous attention to constituents can save their seats. Parliaments are under pressure to improve the capacity of their members, but also to avoid inappropriate use of funds to influence the outcome of elections.

Out of Touch: The Presidency and Public Opinion

Out of Touch: The Presidency and Public Opinion. By Michael J. Towle. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2004. 176p. $37.95. Public support is vital to the governing strategies of modern presidents. Although presidents, White House staff, and presidency scholars take this for granted during the “permanent campaign,” little is known about how administrations react to and interpret information about the public's support for the president. Michael J. Towle asks, How do presidential administrations interpret their wealth of public-opinion polling data? He observes that interpretation of these data by the Truman, Johnson, and Carter administrations varies by the president's own public standing: The more the president's public support declines, the more “out of touch” he becomes with the public.

The campaign continues: how political consultants and campaign tactics affect public policy

Acknowledgements Political Consultants and Policy Making Political Consulting: Historical Origins and Methods Medicare: Policy Making Before the Permanent Campaign The Clinton Health Reform Effort: Harry and Louise Steal the Show The Contract with America: Marketing the Revolution The Prescription Drug Debate: Flo Makes Her Debut Expert Assessment of Post-electoral Consulting Conclusions Appendix: Interview Subjects Bibliographic Essay References

MPs and web technologies: an untapped opportunity?

AbstractMPs have not previously been assigned a major role in electoral campaigning, being considered only one element of a political party's ‘marketing’ tools for winning votes. Evidence now suggests that the relationship between MPs and their constituents is changing. The concept of ‘constituency service’ implies that individual MPs can have a much greater influence on local voters and so possibly buck national trends. At the same time the concept of the ‘permanent campaign’ is transforming political campaigning whereby the political elite needs ever‐greater control of the tools used to provide messages to voters. The internet is a potential battleground between MPs who want greater control of their own local campaigning and the party elite who want to ensure a consistent, coherent and controlled message.The Internet is a new addition to the campaigning armoury, yet the focus so far has been on e‐government, e‐democracy and election campaigns. By concentrating on how and why MPs use their websites this paper considers whether MPs have fully understood and utilised this new medium.Key questions include whether their websites are ‘sticky’, interactive and a means of creating a targeted message.The findings of this detailed study of MPs' websites show that apart from a few pioneers, MPs have not progressed beyond using the Internet as ‘shovelware’ — the vast majority view their website as an electronic brochure and not a new form of two‐way communication. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications

Spinning on the Conference Circuit

ABSTRACT Making sure political parties receive comprehensive and favourable media coverage is a full-time activity that extends beyond the period of election campaigns. In the era of the permanent campaign the annual autumn conferences of the main British political parties represent a publicity opportunity. The undivided media coverage of these events provides a platform for the political parties to sell themselves and their policies to a national audience beyond the conference venue, but also presents considerable risks. To ensure that they successfully exploit this publicity opportunity the party managers, with the aid of communication experts, both control the conferences and implement media management strategies. This article examines how the parties have adapted their conferences to sell themselves and their policies. It highlights the public relations techniques that are employed to ensure that party policy gains the desired positive news coverage and that the coverage of potentially damaging events is minimized. It concludes by considering the impact this marketing driven logic has on the party conferences and their media coverage.

Communicating Global Activism

Many observers doubt the capacity of digital media to change the political game. The rise of a transnational activism that is aimed beyond states and directly at corporations, trade and development regimes offers a fruitful area for understanding how communication practices can help create a new politics. The Internet is implicated in the new global activism far beyond merely reducing the costs of communication, or transcending the geographical and temporal barriers associated with other communication media. Various uses of the Internet and digital media facilitate the loosely structured networks, the weak identity ties, and the patterns of issue and demonstration organizing that define a new global protest politics. Analysis of various cases shows how digital network configurations can facilitate: permanent campaigns; the growth of broad networks despite relatively weak social identity and ideology ties; transformation of individual member organizations and whole networks; and the capacity to communicate messages from desktops to television screens. The same qualities that make these communication-based politics durable also make them vulnerable to problems of control, decision-making and collective identity.

The Contemporary Presidency: The Permanence of the “Permanent Campaign”: George W. Bush's Public Presidency

Early American presidents largely avoided engaging in public appeals or spectacles, embracing ct nonpkbiscitary conception of the institution. However, the contemporary presidency, sur‐roundedby a vast army of pollsters, publicrelations specialists, and press assistants, sometimes more closely resembks a vigorous electoral campaign than that quaint institution. President Clinton so exuberantly embraced the public role that scholars have begun to question whether the line between campaigning and governing might have become so blurred as to now constitute a “permanent campaign.” When President George W. Bush largely evaded the spotlight during the 2000 election aftermath and conducted an understated and quasi‐private transition to power, it seemed that the rhetorical presidency had returned to its modern equilibrium. However, Bush's extensive travel and speech making during his fir sty ear in office suggest instead that public expectations and strategic calculations mandate that the permanent campaign is now a permanent feature of the American presidency.

Features: The Contemporary Presidency: The Permanence of the “permanent Campaign”: George W. Bush’s Public Presidency

Features: The Contemporary Presidency: The Permanence of the “permanent Campaign”: George W. Bush’s Public Presidency

The Permanent Campaign and Its Future (review)

The Permanent Campaign and Its Future (review)

The Transition to Governing Project

Our Transition to Governing Project is dedicated to understanding and improving the transition from campaigning to governing. Started in 1998, the project is an American Enterprise Institute project in conjunction with the Brookings Institution and the Hoover Institution funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Norman Ornstein, AEI, and Thomas Mann, Brookings, are codirectors, and John Fortier, AEI, manages the effort. The project has addressed the transition in three broad areas: (1) facilitation of the transition of a new administration into office; (2) scholarly analysis of the blurring of the lines between campaigning and governing, sometimes referred to as the “permanent campaign”; (3) improvement of the quality of the presidential campaign by focusing media attention on the governing qualities of the candidates.

The Election Campaign: Political Actors, the Media and Voters

An electoral campaign is a complex process in which political actors interact with the mass media in order to orient the voting preferences and choices of the electorate. It is presumed but cannot be taken for granted that the election campaign is the period in which the use of propaganda and various forms of political communication is at its peak. In fact, the interaction between media and politics has long since become a structural given of contemporary democracies,1 and periods in which significant political communication campaigns are developed form part of a cycle that has become independent of electoral deadlines. It can even be hypothesised that election campaigns are becoming an 'internal moment' of these larger cycles during which the climate of opinion that is asserted compromises the election result, sometimes anticipating the election outcome by even several months. After catching on in the United States, this trend, called a 'permanent campaign' by some actors, is now also emerging in European Union countries.2 The question which is posed vis-a-vis this trend is twofold. First, in what way is a climate of opinion formed in the medium to long term, and what importance does it have for election campaigns? Can political actors intentionally 'control'