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A review by skitch41
The Candidate by Samuel L. Popkin
5.0
(Note: Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program)
(FULL DISCLOSURE: The author of this book, Samuel Popkins, was one of my professors at the University of California, San Diego, where he continues to teach to this day. I enjoyed his class and his prior book, [bc:The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns|724089|The Reasoning Voter Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns|Samuel L. Popkin|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348351577s/724089.jpg|710313][b:The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns|724089|The Reasoning Voter Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns|Samuel L. Popkin|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348351577s/724089.jpg|710313], immensely, but have tried to appraise this book as objectively as possible). There have been many books written about how a presidential campaign was run in the past. Many of you reading this probably have already seen the classic documentary The War Room about the '92 Clinton campaign or read David Plouffe's campaign-insider book, [bc:The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory|6452758|The Audacity to Win The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory|David Plouffe|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347518562s/6452758.jpg|6642963][b:The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory|6452758|The Audacity to Win The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory|David Plouffe|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347518562s/6452758.jpg|6642963]. But this one will probably last longer as a how-to guide for presidential electioneering because the author, Prof. Popkin, looks at the challenges different candidates have to face and refuses to say that one way will work every time. Prof. Popkin boils the book down to descriptions of the three types of presidential candidates: the challenger, the incumbent, and the successor. The prologue and the first two chapters introduce the subject and lay down some basic ground rules for all types of candidates, then the following six chapters alternate between describing how challengers, incumbents, and successors can win with an example of one of those types lost (ex. the chapter describing the challenger candidate campaign is followed by a chapter on Hillary Clinton's failed '08 primary campaign). Then in the final two chapters he sums up how, regardless of what kind of candidate you are, you can only win with an effective campaign team in place and asks the perennial election question: is this any way to pick a president? Throughout he also notes that changes in media and technology every four years will mean that campaign tactics that won the last time may not help you win the next time (are you reading this, Pres. Obama?). Different readers will like different parts of this book. Political operatives and junkies will enjoy the chapters outlining the strategies for challengers, incumbents, and successors while average readers will enjoy the blow-by-blow accounts of the different races covered for each kind of candidate (Clinton '08, Bush '92, and Gore '00). The last chapter, while interesting, is a little superfluous and the chapter on describing successor candidates was consumed by Bush's '88 campaign, but these are only small knocks against an otherwise great read. Be sure to be checking out the campaign staff photos for this election and elections to come. I would imagine you will see plenty of copies of this book in the background.
(FULL DISCLOSURE: The author of this book, Samuel Popkins, was one of my professors at the University of California, San Diego, where he continues to teach to this day. I enjoyed his class and his prior book, [bc:The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns|724089|The Reasoning Voter Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns|Samuel L. Popkin|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348351577s/724089.jpg|710313][b:The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns|724089|The Reasoning Voter Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns|Samuel L. Popkin|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348351577s/724089.jpg|710313], immensely, but have tried to appraise this book as objectively as possible). There have been many books written about how a presidential campaign was run in the past. Many of you reading this probably have already seen the classic documentary The War Room about the '92 Clinton campaign or read David Plouffe's campaign-insider book, [bc:The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory|6452758|The Audacity to Win The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory|David Plouffe|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347518562s/6452758.jpg|6642963][b:The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory|6452758|The Audacity to Win The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory|David Plouffe|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347518562s/6452758.jpg|6642963]. But this one will probably last longer as a how-to guide for presidential electioneering because the author, Prof. Popkin, looks at the challenges different candidates have to face and refuses to say that one way will work every time. Prof. Popkin boils the book down to descriptions of the three types of presidential candidates: the challenger, the incumbent, and the successor. The prologue and the first two chapters introduce the subject and lay down some basic ground rules for all types of candidates, then the following six chapters alternate between describing how challengers, incumbents, and successors can win with an example of one of those types lost (ex. the chapter describing the challenger candidate campaign is followed by a chapter on Hillary Clinton's failed '08 primary campaign). Then in the final two chapters he sums up how, regardless of what kind of candidate you are, you can only win with an effective campaign team in place and asks the perennial election question: is this any way to pick a president? Throughout he also notes that changes in media and technology every four years will mean that campaign tactics that won the last time may not help you win the next time (are you reading this, Pres. Obama?). Different readers will like different parts of this book. Political operatives and junkies will enjoy the chapters outlining the strategies for challengers, incumbents, and successors while average readers will enjoy the blow-by-blow accounts of the different races covered for each kind of candidate (Clinton '08, Bush '92, and Gore '00). The last chapter, while interesting, is a little superfluous and the chapter on describing successor candidates was consumed by Bush's '88 campaign, but these are only small knocks against an otherwise great read. Be sure to be checking out the campaign staff photos for this election and elections to come. I would imagine you will see plenty of copies of this book in the background.