Book Reviews

Political Campaigns--A Review of Three Texts

Bruce E. Altschuler. Running in Place: A Campaign Journal. Chicago: Nelson-Hall Publishers, 1996. vii + 124 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references. $19.95 (paper), ISBN 0-8304-1439-8.

Susan Guber. How to Win Your 1st Election. 2nd ed. Boca Raton, Fla: St. Lucie Press, 1997. xi + 163 pp. Illustrations. $18.95 (paper), ISBN 1-57444-130-2.

Dick Simpson. Winning Elections: A Handbook of Modern Participatory Politics. New York: HarperCollins College Publishers, 1996. 225 pp. $22.95 (paper), ISBN 0-673-98078-2.

Reviewed for H-Teachpol by John W. Williams, Principia College

Published by H-Teachpol (October, 1997).

I've never run for public office. I have a standard response when people raise the idea that the worst thing about running is winning. Running for office requires tremendous commitment, as the authors of these three books can testify. One book is the journal of a losing New York state assembly campaign. The second book is based on the first of several winning Florida state assembly campaigns. The final book comes from the years of campaigning, successfully for Chicago City Council and unsuccessfully for U.S. Congress.

I have managed or consulted on a number of local campaigns, from county judge and state's attorney to mayors of villages and cities. During my first campaign, one of my political mentors and fellow political science professors joined one of our strategy sessions. He had run unsuccessfully for the state general assembly. With nothing but kindness in his heart, he offered the campaign a twenty-year old book that he relied upon for his campaign. With the good natured kidding that marks our friendship, I laughed aloud, "But, you lost!"

At the time, I didn't appreciate several things. First, the principles of campaigning are the same, win or lose. The difference is in the application. Second, the principles are grounded in common sense and in the scholarship of political science. Third, I went on to manage my mentor's election and re-election campaigns for mayor. Thus, I look at the three volumes under review as a bruised but happy participant, as practitioner of the campaign, and as scholar of the campaign.

Author Bruce Altschuler is a political scientist and participated in the campaign that he writes about. The campaign, in the early 1990s, was for a seat in the New York state assembly from the district around Oswego. The candidate and the author are colleagues in the political science department at the State University of New York at Oswego. Altschuler's candidate, Democrat Bill Scheuerman, lost the race.

Perhaps because he was not the candidate but an observer and the candidate's professional colleague, Alschuler's book is theoretically grounded. However, the bulk of Alschuler's book is, as the subtitle states, "A Campaign Journal." He opens with a short chapter on the theoretical concepts--a broad though not deep review of the literature--of political parties, campaigns, campaign finance, interest groups, and media. He concludes with longer chapter, using the same format, to analyze the failed campaign. In between, Altschuler offers, in chronological order, his journal of the campaign from May 10 to November 6. Thus, this book has theoretical concepts and offers a personal insight based on first person narrative.

The author tries to convey the emotion of the race, an essential aspect of any campaign that is difficult to translate through cold print, as a committed observer. One of the most difficult aspects of teaching is to convey the emotion--the heart--in addition to the reason--the head. My most heart-rending defeat was a mayoral race we expected to win, but lost by 50 votes. Dick Simpson is right when he declares, "No book is a substitute for experience." He urges students to work in a major campaign, "preferably a winning campaign." Narratives such as Altschuler's, as well as documentary films such as Joshua Seftel's documentary "Taking on the Kennedys," help reach students.

Democrat Susan Guber won her first race in the early 1980s, upon which this book is based. She eventually served three terms in the Florida House of Representatives from Dade County. Guber was a wife, parent, and community activist. She remains politically active in the Miami area. The book consists of over two dozen brief chapters (averaging five or six pages) on the many aspects of organizing and managing a campaign--deciding to run, setting up the campaign headquarters, raising money, hiring a staff, defining issues, writing and delivering speeches, using volunteers, using technology, using signs, using mail, using the media, creating an image, dealing with candidate forums and with opponents, door-to-door, running a phone bank, organizing poll watchers, cleaning up and saying thanks. She also has brief chapters on campaign ethics, campaigning in a multicultural community, and dealing with emotions of the campaign.

Guber offers a different perspective, that of a woman running for office. Her commitment to women motivated both her campaign and the book. Throughout the book she refers to the special situation and needs of women candidates. The writing is basic and practical. Guber cites dozens of anecdotal stories of other candidates and races. These stories, including quotes and humor, enrich the book and broaden the applicability. There is no theoretical content or structure, thus the book is not an academic text, but a how-to manual for the novice candidate. As an aside, Guber supports the negative campaign (p. 101).

Dick Simpson undertook the most visible and dramatic of the three campaigns. He attempted twice, in combative primaries in the early 1990s, to unseat famous (or infamous) Dan Rostenkowski from his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The races were, of course, primaries, but in the safe Democratic district the battle would be at the primary rather than the general election. Given this context, Simpson's races were more visible and drew more money and attention than the two other examples. Any larger campaign, such a statewide race for governor or U.S. Senate, might be impossible to document, at least from the candidate's perspective.

Simpson was no stranger to the rough and tumble world of Chicago politics. He served as state campaign manager for Eugene McCarthy's 1968 presidential bid, twice won election to the Chicago City Council, and was U.S. Senator Carol Moseley-Braun's professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Simpson continues on the faculty at UIC and is recognized for his scholarship in urban politics.

Simpson has a political theme that permeates the book. He is committed to participatory democracy. He ran his campaign as an exercise in participatory politics and frames the text as its subtitle declares: "A Handbook of Modern Participatory Politics." Simpson makes two fundamental assumptions in his book: "1) As this is a handbook for participatory politics, a large number of volunteers are involved in your campaign. 2) The candidate you support is well-qualified for the position and has a genuine platform on which to run." These assumptions seem to run counter to modern politics, with the decline of civic society and voter participation, and the rise of perception over substance. Simpson closes his book with a chapter on "What to do if you win." As the author notes, there are important steps to be taken after the campaign is over, win or lose. Consistent with his commitment to participatory democracy, Simpson uses this opportunity to discuss issues of electoral reform, campaign finance, term limits, and "experiments in democracy." For a college text, I like the idea of an overarching concept, though I might have selected something different than Simpson's participatory politics. However, in the era of the decline of the civic society, his theme is important.

Simpson organizes his book around key campaign topics, including deciding to run, organizing the campaign, raising money, getting known, and "winning the media war." He devotes a chapter to running for Congress. He offers lots of specific examples, mostly from his campaigns, including forms, organizational charts, schedules, instructions, brochures, leaflets, campaign schedules, radio copy, advertisements, etc. His approach, both in campaigning and in writing, is the most structured. Unlike the other two text, this book has an index. Simpson's book includes an annotated bibliography and several appendices of campaign advice. He weaves in references to the scholarly literature, though in a less formal manner than Altschuler.

If I had to select a book to help me organize a campaign, which would it be? Simpson's "Winning Elections." It is the most comprehensive and most structured. What book would I give to someone thinking about running for the first time, to give a flavor for the race? Guber's "How to Win Your 1st Election." It is a simple and entertaining, with sufficient detail to either scare or excite the novice. What book would I use as textbook in a course on campaigns and elections? I would start with Altschuler's "Running in Place." It has both introductory theoretical content and personal perspective that take students into the campaign. I would supplement it with Simpson's "Winning Elections," both for its theoretical material and for its how-to detail. Other the other hand, Guber's "How to Win Your 1st Election" may be more appropriate for community college classes.

Each text has its own purpose and audience. I enjoyed each for different reasons and would use them for different purposes. None is sufficient as a central text, though Simpson's comes closest. For teaching a mid- or upper-level course on elections and campaigns, I'm still thinking about writing my own text. I would expand the theoretical material and tie it tighter to the campaign, pushing Altschuler's and Simpson's use of the literature. I would reduce the specific details and how-to nature of Simpson, using the details to explicate theory. Finally, I would include both the anecdotal, personal nature of Guber to help keep the readers involved, and the insightful personal approach of Altschuler to take the reader into the heart and emotion of the campaign.

The H-Teachpol book review editor is Patrick O'Neil.

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