Campaigns, Elections & Parties Publications
Mapping the New World: Lessons from the Obama Campaigns
September 10, 2013, 10:02 amBy Michael Slaby
A new paper from Spring 2013 Fellow Michael Slaby, former Chief Integration and Innovation Officer on the 2012 Obama for America campaign and CTO in 2008.
Did Twitter Kill the Boys on the Bus?
Searching for a better way to cover a campaign
August 28, 2013, 5:11 pmBy Peter Hamby
In a new paper released by the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University, Spring 2013 Fellow Peter Hamby, who covered the 2008 and 2012 presidential races for CNN, examines the challenges of reporting on a modern political race in today’s volatile online media ecosystem.
Mom’s Best Advice: How Candidates Who Didn’t Run as Themselves Lost the Message War
July 23, 2013, 1:46 pmBy Melinda Henneberger
A paper by Spring 2013 Fellow Melinda Henneberger examines the importance of a candidate’s authenticity in presidential elections.
Dispatches From an Unfinished Uprising: The Role of Technology in the 2009 Iranian Protest Movement
August 9, 2012, 9:38 amBy Nazila Fathi
A new paper by Spring 2012 Fellow Nazila Fathi describes her experience as a journalist on the ground during the Iranian protests in June 2009.
Gone Rogue: Time to Reform the Presidential Primary Debates
January 1, 2012, 2:37 pmBy Mark McKinnon
Mark McKinnon Shorenstein Center Reidy Fellow, Fall 2011 Political Communications Strategist; Vice Chairman Hill+Knowlton Strategies Read the full paper (PDF). Excerpt: How would the course of history been altered had P.T. Barnum moderated the famed Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858? Today’s…
Fanning the Flames: The News Media’s Role in the Rise of Negativity in Presidential Campaigns
February 1, 2010, 4:04 pmBy John G. Geer
John G. Geer Shorenstein Center Fellow, Fall 2009 Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Vanderbilt University Read the full paper (PDF). Excerpt Summary “Ads are about news coverage these days.” Mark McKinnon, November 2009 The rise of negativity in presidential campaigns…
Changes in Media Polling in Recent Presidential Campaigns: Moving from Good to “Average” at CNN
June 1, 2009, 3:25 pmBy Michael W. Traugott
A paper by Michael W. Traugott, spring 2009 fellow, details the problematic rise of the “poll of polls,” an average of other organizations’ recent data rather than new information gathered by the news organization itself. This paper reviews how polling…
Exit Polls: Better or Worse Since the 2000 Election?
January 1, 2008, 4:12 pmBy Robin Sproul
A paper by Robin Sproul, fall 2007 fellow, details the growing problems with exit polls. Sproul writes that “the six news organizations that jointly conduct exit polls, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, NBC, and the Associated Press have been on a…
The Road to Wikipolitics: Life and Death of the Modern Presidential Primary, b. 1968 – d. 2008
January 1, 2008, 3:32 pmBy Tom Fiedler
A paper by Tom Fiedler, fall 2007 fellow, considers whether the structure of the presidential primary – which includes special treatment of Iowa, New Hampshire and, lately, Nevada and South Carolina, is in decline. Fiedler argues that this change also coincides…
Character and the Primaries of 2008: What Were the Media Master Narratives about the Candidates During the Primary Season?
January 1, 2008, 12:00 pmA report by the Shorenstein Center and the Project for Excellence in Journalism analyzes positive and negative press coverage of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain. The study first examines the dominant personal narratives about the candidates…
