Winning Elections: Running Political Campaigns in Modern America

Despite the success of TV’s Selina Meyer or Leslie Knope, winning a campaign for elected office is a lot more complicated than a good stump speech and a great logo. In this course we will examine what it takes to run a modern American campaign, including the ins-and-outs of political advertising, speechwriting, campaign finance, polling, data, and field organizing. We will look to first-party accounts of particular campaigns, including Mo Udall’s Too Funny To Be President, David Plouffe’s The Audacity to Win, and live interviews with current office-holders, to determine which strategies may be most successful for 2020 presidential contenders. (American Politics)/