Throughout the course of history, presidential campaigning has evolved commensurate with the advancements in technology. FDR mastered the radio, JFK the television and President Barack Obama, the Internet. In both the 2008 and 2012 Presidential campaigns, President Barack Obama used social media via the Internet to understand the voter better than any candidate before his time. Through revolutionary data collection techniques, both offline and online, the Obama campaign obtained vital electorate information. This data was used by the campaign to: target online social media users who were most likely to become politically engaged; and attempt to influence their voting habits, two of the most crucial measures of a successful presidential campaign. This paper analyzes whether the social media campaign strategy deployed by President Barack Obama in both the 2008 and 2012 elections was successful in its attempt to influence the electorate. This is accomplished by evaluating voter turnout and engagement based on targeted demographic groups. Next, I assess how social media has impacted fundraising in the 2st1 century, particularly following the aftermath of the Federal Elections Campaign Act (FECA) in 1974. Finally, I analyze how social media effectively assisted President Obama’s campaign in mobilizing the electorate both online and offline to his benefit.

The study utilizes the correlations among Personal Marketing, Image Management and Campaign Strategies of Seventh Kaohsiung City Council Election in 2006. A successful election campaign will be constructed for the future reference of local election candidates. Content analysis, questionnaire survey and In-depth interview with professionals and experts were used to conduct this study. Comparative method with tables was utilized to analyze the data and it was found that: 1. Campaign Strategy: Candidates need to break the traditional models and adopt business management principles (cost reduction, differential marketing and focus). 2. Personal Marketing: The main duty of city councillors is monitoring the city government. Candidates need to be marketed as professional, earnest and rational, who share close-up experiences with voters. 3. Image management: Councillors should give professional and friendly impressions at service by focusing on monitoring the city government, participating in charity events, representing the voters at the city council, and establishing an image as the local opinion leader. These achievements rely on hard work and effort. To conclude the thesis as below: 1. Major Campaign Strategies for the candidates: C1 has the best campaign strategy by adopting business management strategies of cost reduction, differential marketing and focus. 2. Differential marketing on image management and campaign strategy: C1 and C4 adopt media strategies to market themselves as professional public servants. C1 and C4 inform their voters to turn on televisions to see how they question city government officials at the city council. Such marketing is an extension of their advantages and opportunities as incumbent councillors. 3. Differential marketing on image management and campaign strategy: Candidates and journalists both consider image management important. 4. This thesis establishes a model for campaign strategies, personal marketing, and image management of Kaohsiung city councillor candidates Keywords: Local Election,Campaign Strategy, Personal Marketing, Image Management, SWOT Analysis

Although the topics of voting behavior and campaign strategy have vast amounts of political science literature, there is not much evidence that campaigns embrace theories of why people vote and how to get them to vote - especially at the local government level. This paper analyzes the urban voting behavior theory Kaufmann develops in The Urban Voter, Group Interest Theory, and combines with generally accepted methods of campaign strategy that produce the best outcomes. Applying this synthesis to the 2013 Boston mayoral election, the Group Interest framework does not seem to fully explain an open seat election in a rapidly changing Boston population. However, this framework does prove successful for the campaign strategies utilized in the preliminary election. Using archival research, personal interviews, and polling results, there is limited support for using the Group Interest framework and best campaign practices in being successful in an urban election.

The dissertation revealed that pre-colonial animosities and political divisions remained very strong in the political calculation of various ethnic groups in Nigeria and Kenya. This is proven by analyzing the ethnic mobilization campaign strategy adopted by political actors, especially in Nigeria and Kenya. However, it could be shown how debate on national policy issues directed the 2012 presidential election campaign in Ghana, while in Nigeria and Kenya ethnic identity legitimacy rights dominated public discourse and directed voter mobilization in the 2011 and 2007 presidential elections. The dissertation discovered how the collaboration between the media and the public compelled political actors in Ghana to defocus inter-ethnic grievances and concentrate on issues with national policy implications instead. It revealed that the political party alliances and interest alignments, which produced a “coalition of convenience”, were a direct product of ethnicity and religion identity legitimacy rights in two of the three case study countries; namely Nigeria and Kenya. Consequently, campaigns in the focused elections were streamlined to support the political concerns of each group under the premise of solidarity. Voters’ electoral loyalty was focused on ethnic and regional political concerns. In that sense, ethnicity identity legitimacy rights and political interest were raised above policy goals and national interests during the elections in Nigeria and Kenya. By extension, the active political participation of the people was anchored on the ethnic affiliation of the candidates. This was very evident in the observed voting pattern in Nigeria and Kenya. The use of “Ethnicity-centered Mobilization Strategy” was a disservice to democracy and the electoral processes along the 2011 and 2007 elections in both Nigeria and Kenya. The author is convinced that electoral mobilization strategies, oriented towards inter-ethnic grievances, identity legitimacy rights, regional and religious affiliation, were catalysts to the election violence experienced during these presidential elections. The dissertation argues that the desire and privilege to wield political power and authority in the case study societies contributed heavily to the violent mob action that emerged from the focused elections. It shows how campaigns, anchored on inter-ethnic grievances and the desire to exert identity legitimacy rights for political relevance, created ethnic irredentists, religious hard-liners and shaped the mobilization and voter participatory capacity in each ethnic group during the focused elections. The dissertation was able to establish how campaign strategy as used by the political actors through “material and solidarity incentives” drove the electoral processes. To that extend the use of ethnicity-centered solidarity prepared the ground for violent response in Nigeria and Kenya. Nevertheless, the use of a material incentive strategy to lure voters compromised voters’ electoral conscience and subsequently led to commercialization of the elections, especially in Nigeria. Consequently, the binary effects of the strategy are represented in the compromised status of the voters and the commercialization of the processes. The various events as orchestrated by the political actors devalued the elections and democracy itself. The spontaneous eruption of violence in Nigeria and Kenya was as result of campaign strategy as the “Ethnic Alliance” supporting each of the two opposition groups had expected their candidate to win the election in Kenya and Nigeria in 2007 and 2011 respectively. The violent outcome of the Presidential thus confirmed the negative role of “Solidarity Incentive Strategy” as a campaign method in a distressed society. Ethno-regional voter mobilization methods centered on inter-ethnic grievances, as well as religion influenced voter mobilization to achieve electoral success negatively and distorted the basis for violent-free democratic elections in the case study countries.

In recent years, negativity has become a dominant theme in the political campaign. However, there are no comprehensive studies to measure the amount of negativity and to examine how parties and candidates adopt these negative strategies, particularly in the Canadian context. Although some studies have focused on a particular aspect of negative campaigning in a Canadian election, the question remains of how and to what extent parties adopt negative strategies in an election. In this thesis, I have collected and analyzed parties’ press releases in the 2015 federal election to examine and explain negativity in parties’ political campaigns. I have tested my results according to five primary theories of negative campaigning, including competitive positioning, ideological proximity, party organization, coalition or minority effect, and negative personalization, to see if these theories apply in the Canadian context. My results indicate that the 2015 federal campaign was a highly negative one, and most of the negative attacks have been directed towards the leader of the Conservative Party, Stephen Harper, while the Conservative Party published the least amount of negative attacks during the campaign. I also found that the Liberal Party has published the most negative statements during the campaign. My results also show that one of the influential factors in shaping parties’ negative campaign strategies is the other parties’ status in public opinion polls, particularly the federal voting intention factor. Although the results show that most of the attacks in the 2015 campaign targeted leaders of parties, I did not find enough support in my models to verify the negative personalization theory. The overall findings of this thesis show that Canadian elections are moving toward a presidential-style campaign, similar to the United States, by becoming more negative and more personalized, which can have significant implications for Canadian democracy.

No description available.

The presidential contest of 1952 established a new trajectory for Florida politics. This pivotal election reversed decades of Democratic dominance and signified the beginning of presidential Republicanism in the state. Elections in the second half of the 20th century provided evidence of an increasingly favorable environment for Republican nominees. During this period Democrats were limited to carrying the state's electoral votes three times. GOP presidential ascendancy in Florida was augmented by partisan conversion and the disproportionate in-migration of white Northerners following World War II. Contrary to unrivaled 1980s support, which created an anchor in a new core Southern Republican electoral bloc, the 1990s restoration of competitiveness highlighted voter fluidity. This trend was exemplified by a virtual tie in the 2000 election. This paper confirms an atypical regional diffusion of Republican presidential dominance attributable to demographics. Contemporary Florida elections have been profoundly altered by an older population, increasing diversity due to immigration, and the erosion of Southern culture. Unlike intensifying national sectionalism, Florida has been classified as a "too close to call" during most of the past four presidential campaigns. A unique partisan balance is a component of a demographic profile mirroring the nation. Steady population growth has gradually positioned Florida as an unexpected presidential bellwether. The longevity of highly competitive national elections will continue to be primarily dependent on the partisan inclinations of newcomers.

From the Committee of 100 to the Committee to Re-elect the President: The Political Campaigns of Richard M. Nixon offers the reader a comprehensive biography of Richard M. Nixon through the lens of his political campaigns. This thesis illustrates how Richard Nixon became one of the fiercest campaigners in 20th century American political history. This thesis, furthermore, examines the key staff and strategy of each campaign Nixon waged. This thesis, additionally, presents to the reader insight on how Nixon often fought his campaigns independently from the Republican Party and how he relied on the help of a few dedicated men.

所有的選舉競爭都在既定的環境中進行。競選活動的效果，也就在於候選人是否能正確評估自身在既定環境及個人條件上的優劣勢，從而運用競選策略與戰術來凸顯有利因素、修正或淡化不利因素，以取得規劃中的足夠選票來獲得勝選。於此，本論文以馬英九在1998年台北市長選舉中所運用的競選策略為例，提出一個研究候選人競選策略的分析架構，作為理解選戰中候選人採用各種策略的動機及行為的基礎。在方法上，本論文採取整體資料分析法、文獻分析法、調查研究法、以及深入訪談法等方法配合運用，期能經由對馬英九陣營競選行為的觀察，為當前候選人競選策略研究作進一步驗證，並作為往後競選理論深化發展的基礎。 如何以挑戰者的身份擊敗具優良政績的的在位市長，是馬英九從事選舉競爭的最大問題。在選舉競爭條件的評估方面，國民黨在台北市擁有的三成實力加上新黨約兩成五的政黨實力，共同建構出馬英九的過半潛力，成為馬英九爭勝的有利基礎。在新黨勢弱下，馬英九陣營便將勝選聯盟設定在以國民黨傳統票為基礎，並在預期新黨票源將有效回流下，將本土性票源視為勝選目標群。但在李登輝因素造成新黨票源與本土性票源的矛盾下，馬陣營以中間選民訴求作為一個兼顧此兩種票源的最適位置。在策略抉擇上，馬陣營採取候選人中心策略作為選戰議程，並分別針對不同票源群體取不同策略進行訴求：針對國民黨傳統票源，馬陣營採取政黨中心戰術來進行強化式策略；針對新黨票源，馬陣營則分別以「一路走來、始終如一」的候選人中心戰術及「打造世界級首都」的議題中心戰術來進行甄補式策略；針對本土票源，馬陣營則以「台灣第一、台北第一」的議題中心戰術進行甄補式策略。在選舉戰術的應用方面，無論是自我推銷的訴求策略、阻斷對手策略效果的攻擊策略、或者回應對手攻擊或重大事件發展的回應策略，也都扣緊預定之候選人中心的選戰議程。而在組織動員方面，馬陣營也配合馬英九所具資源設計競選組織並進行基層動員。 就選舉結果來看，新黨支持者的大幅流動所造成的國、新合流，尤其是外省籍選民近乎一面倒地支持馬英九，是馬英九勝選主因。這顯示馬英九的競選策略基本上是成功的，即在國民黨傳統票及新黨票源的爭取上達成目標，但在本土票源的爭取上則不如想像中順利。 第一章 緒論 壹、 研究動機與目的 貳、 研究主題的背景 參、 文獻檢閱 肆、 研究方法 第二章 選區的政治生態 壹、 台北市的人文區位背景 貳、 台北市政治生態環境變遷 參、 小結 第三章 競選初期的策略 壹、 競選初期的主要事件 貳、 競爭條件評估與策略抉擇 參、 競選組織的建立 肆、 策略制定與執行 伍、 小結 第四章 競選中期的策略 壹、 競選中期的主要事件 貳、 主要訴求策略及運用 參、 攻擊策略之應用與調整 肆、 回應策略 伍、 組織與動員 陸、 策略效果 柒、 小結 第五章 競選後期的策略 壹、 主要競選活動 貳、 議題訴求 參、 向對手的攻擊策略 肆、 回應對手攻擊的策略 伍、 造勢活動 陸、 小結 第六章 結論 壹、 研究發現 貳、 檢討與建議 參考書目

No description available.