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WORK TITLE: Democracy for Hire
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Washington
STATE: DC
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennis-w-johnson-92235b4/ * https://gspm.gwu.edu/dennis-w-johnson-phd * https://cps.gwu.edu/dennis-w-johnson-phd
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Male.
EDUCATION:Carleton College, B.A., 1966; Duke University, Ph.D.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and educator. George Washington University, Washington, DC, director of master’s degree program in legislative affairs, 1993-2000, professor, 1993-2014, associate dean of Graduate School of Political Management, 1995-2006, acting executive director of the Graduate School of Political Management, 2011-12, editor of Graduate School of Political Management Series on Applied Politics, professor emeritus, 2014–; Jinan University, Guangzhou, China, Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer, 2010-11. Previously, worked as a political consultant. Senior editor of Journal of Political Marketing; member of editorial board of Journal of Public Affairs. Has appeared as a guest on television programs.
WRITINGS
Contributor of chapters to books. Contributor of articles to publications, including the Journal of Psychology and Marketing and the Journal of Political Marketing.
SIDELIGHTS
Dennis W. Johnson is a professor emeritus at George Washington University and a former political consultant. He has been affiliated with the college since 1993 and has served as a professor, director of the master’s degree program in legislative affairs, associate dean of the Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM), acting executive director of the GSPM, and editor of the GSPM Series on Applied Politics. In 2010 and 2011, he was a Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer at Jinan University, in Guangzhou, China. Johnson has also served as a senior editor of the Journal of Political Marketing and a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Public Affairs. He has written chapters in several books and has contributed articles to publications, including the Journal of Psychology and Marketing and the Journal of Political Marketing. Johnson has also written and edited books.
No Place for Amateurs
In 2000 Johnson released his first book, No Place for Amateurs: How Political Consultants Are Reshaping American Democracy. A second edition of the volume was published in 2007. Drawing from his own experience, Johnson describes the role of political consultants in today’s campaigns. He suggests that the widespread use of political consultants has changed the way campaigns are run and the way politicians behave. Johnson suggests that acquiring money from donors has become one of the most important things a campaigning politician does and argues that that is not necessarily a good thing. In addition to acquiring money, political consultants concern themselves with public opinion on their candidate. They organize focus groups to determine how the candidate is perceived by the public and closely track opinion polls. Political consultants also attempt to reveal damaging information about their candidate’s opponent. Johnson explains how political consultants have harnessed technological advances in order to give their candidates a competitive edge. He suggests that the widespread practice of hiring political consultants has alienated average citizens. Johnson offers alternatives that could make average voters feel more involved. However, he believes that political consultants will continue to dominate campaigns for the foreseeable future.
A contributor to Publishers Weekly remarked: “There is much historical narrative here that should interest the general reader.” “Comprehensive and lucid, this book serves as a useful primer to the political consulting business,” asserted Michael A. Genovese in Library Journal.
Campaigning in the Twenty-first Century: A Whole New Ballgame? and Campaigning for President 2012
Johnson discusses the unique challenges of contemporary political campaigns in Campaigning in the Twenty-first Century: A Whole New Ballgame? He explains that developments in technology have changed the way in which politicians communicate with voters. Additionally, reforms to campaign finance laws have altered how politicians receive funding. Johnson offers examples of how politicians communicate with voters through their Web sites, Web logs, social media pages, and e-mail. He notes that people running for office have not abandoned television ads and direct mail communications, despite having more technological options for communication. Other topics in the book include the importance of surveys in current elections and the role of interest groups in persuading politicians to take certain positions on divisive issues. Choice reviewer J.D. Rausch commented: “This work will appeal to students of political campaigns as well as those interested in the increasing use of new media.”
In Campaigning for President 2012: Strategy and Tactics, Johnson includes essays from twelve contributors on the factors affecting the 2012 Presidential election. Among the topics addressed in the essays are campaign funding, the primaries, and communications. At the end of the book, Johnson places additional information, including results from caucuses and primaries, scripts from advertisements, and additional information about candidates.
Democracy for Hire
Johnson again discusses his former profession in his 2016 book Democracy for Hire: A History of American Political Consulting. He explains that the practice of hiring political consultants to work on campaigns is relatively new. Among the first political consultants were Clear Whitaker and Leone Baxter, a married couple who began working on campaigns during the 1930s. Opinion polls became an important factor in elections during the 1950s. Johnson states that political consultants have become exponentially more common since the 1960s. He discusses their roles in the presidential election of 1964 and in every presidential election since then. Johnson profiles particularly influential political consultants and highlights changes in political consulting in general. He explains how new developments in campaign financing have changed the way politicians and consultants behave. Though some political scientists have suggested that the role of political consultants is not that important in elections, Johnson disagrees, providing evidence of political consultants’ influence.
A Publishers Weekly reviewer suggested: “This extensive account of such a vital part of the modern political system makes for an accessible read.” Kori Schake, a critic on the Times Higher Education Web site, commented: “With Democracy for Hire, Dennis Johnson has proven himself a modern Vasari, writing the biographies of great campaigns and … criticism of the business of political consulting.” Schake concluded: “At 470 pages (with another one hundred of annotation), it isn’t a quick read but will be an exceptionally rewarding one for scholars and politicians alike.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, February 1, 2001, Mary Carroll, review of No Place for Amateurs: How Political Consultants Are Reshaping American Democracy, p. 1025.
Campaigns & Elections, April, 2001, review of No Place For Amateurs, p. 20.
Choice, September, 2011, J.D. Rausch, review of Campaigning in the Twenty-first Century: A Whole New Ballgame?, p. 207.
Library Journal, November 15, 2000, Michael A. Genovese, review of No Place for Amateurs, p. 84.
Publishers Weekly, November 20, 2000, review of No Place for Amateurs, p. 54; July 18, 2016, review of Democracy for Hire: A History of American Political Consulting, p. 197.
Reference & Research Book News, April, 2011, review of Campaigning in the Twenty-first Century; October, 2013, review of Campaigning for President 2012: Strategy and Tactics.
ONLINE
Economist Online, http://www.economist.com/ (November 17, 2016), review of Democracy for Hire.
George Washington University, College of Professional Studies Web site, https://cps.gwu.edu/ (May 13, 2017), author faculty profile.
George Washington University, Graduate School of Political Management Web site, https://gspm.gwu.edu/ (May 13, 2017), author faculty profile.
Times Higher Education Online (London, England), https://www.timeshighereducation.com/ (March 30, 2017), Kori Schake, review of Democracy for Hire.
Dennis W. Johnson, Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)
Title:
Acting Executive Director, the Graduate School of Political Management and Professor of Political Management and Legislative Affairs
Background
Faculty Programs: Political Management and Legislative Affairs
Dennis W. Johnson (Ph.D., Duke University) is the Acting Executive Director and professor of political management at GW’s Graduate School of Political Management. From 1995 through 2006, he was associate dean of the Graduate School and from 1993 through 2000, he was director of the master’s degree program in legislative affairs.
In the 2010-2011 academic year he served as Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer at Jinan University in Guangzhou, China. His academic and scholarly interests include campaigns and elections, the profession of political consulting, technology and politics, and the history of American public policy.
Dr. Johnson founded and serves as editor of The Graduate School of Political Management Series on Applied Politics. The first volume in this Series, Campaigning for President 2008: Strategy and Tactics, New Voices and New Techniques (Routledge, 2009) analyzes the 2008 presidential campaign. Faculty from the GSPM, senior political consultants with experience on presidential campaigns, and political scientists analyze the strategy and tactics of the candidates in the primaries and general election, the surge in youth voting, new communication tools, and the extraordinary amount of money raised.
A second volume in the Series is Campaigning in the Twenty-first Century: A Whole New Ballgame? (Routledge, December 2010), authored by Dennis Johnson. This work will explore the various ways that professional campaigns, from the presidency down to local contests, have changed during the past decade.
Dr. Johnson has been at the forefront of scholars examining the role of professional consultants and political management. He was editor of a major reference book, the Routledge Handbook on Political Management (Routledge, 2008), which brought together forty-nine scholars and practitioners from throughout the world to focus on applied politics, elections and issue management.
A second edition of his No Place for Amateurs: How Political Consultants Are Reshaping American Democracy (Routledge) appeared in 2007. He has also contributed chapters to books and peer-reviewed journals on political consulting: “Campaigning in the Twenty-first Century: Change and Continuity in American Political Marketing,” in Jennifer Lees-Marshment, ed., Routledge Handbook on Political Marketing (Routledge, 2011, forthcoming); “Campaigning on the Internet,” a chapter in Stephen C. Craig, ed., The Electoral Challenge: Theory Meets Practice (CQ Press, 2006); “First Hurdles: The Evolution of the Pre-Primary and Primary Stages of American Presidential Elections,” a chapter in Bruce I. Newman and Philip Davies, eds., Winning Elections with Political Marketing (Haworth, 2006); “2000 Elections: Perspectives on the Closest Presidential Election in U.S. History,” a chapter in Bruce I. Newman and Dejan Vercic, eds., Communication of Politics (Haworth, 2003) “Perspectives on Political Consulting,” Journal of Political Marketing, 1:1 (October 2002); and “The Business of Political Consulting,” a chapter in James A. Thurber, ed., Campaign Warriors (Brookings, 2000). Dr. Johnson also serves as senior editor of the Journal of Political Marketing (Routledge) and on the editorial board of the Journal of Public Affairs (Wiley).
Dr. Johnson also has written about the impact of online technology on politics and political institutions. From 2000-2003, he was principal investigator of a major study of Congress and online communication, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. He wrote Congress Online: Bridging the Gap Between Citizens and their Representatives (Routledge, 2004). Other writings include: “Grassroots, Astroturf, and Internet Lobbying,” in Burdett Loomis, ed., Lobbying in the United States (CQ Press, 2011, forthcoming); “Communicating with Congress,” a chapter in James A. Thurber and Colton Campbell, eds., Congress and the Internet (CQ Books, 2003); “U.S. Congress Responds to Online Communications Needs,” in Journal of Political Marketing, 2:3 (October 2003); “Elections and Public Polling: Will the Media Get Online Polling Right?” Journal of Psychology and Marketing, 19:12 (November 2002); and “The CyberSpace Election in Your Future,” a chapter in Bruce I. Newman, ed., Political Marketing Handbook (Sage, 1999). Dr. Johnson serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Information Technology and Politics.
He is author of The Laws that Shaped America: Fifteen Acts of Congress and their Lasting Impact (Routledge, 2009), a major work on the history of American domestic public policy.
Johnson has presented papers or delivered speeches at the Sixtieth Annual British Political Studies Conference, Edinburgh (2010); the Fifty-fourth Annual British American Studies Conference, University of Leicester (2006); the Sixth Annual Political Marketing Conference, Middlesex University, London (2003); GSPM-sponsored conferences on elections in Madrid (2002); the Eighth International Public Relations Symposium, Lake Bled, Slovenia (2001); the Midwest Association of Public Opinion Research, Chicago (1999); the World Congress of International Association of Political Consultants, Vienna (1998) and Milan (1999), and the European Association of Political Consultants, Palermo (2001).
Dr. Johnson has guest lectured and participated in seminars at the Judge Institute of Management Studies, Cambridge University, England (1997) and the University of Innsbruck, Austria (1999). He has been interviewed by a wide variety of television and newspaper sources, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, NBC evening news, British Broadcasting Corporation, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, C-SPAN, Public Broadcasting System, MS-NBC, U.S. Information Agency, Voice of America, Middle East Television, Japan Broadcasting Corporation, and AP Television. As Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer, he is currently lecturing and speaking widely to a variety of academic, professional, and business audiences throughout China.
Dr. Dennis W. Johnson
Faculty: Emeriti
Background
Dennis W. Johnson (Ph.D., Duke University) is professor emeritus at the Graduate School of Political Management, George Washington University. In 2011through early 2012, he was acting executive director of the school; from 1995 through 2006, he was associate dean; and from 1993 through 2000, he was director of the master’s degree program in legislative affairs.
In the 2010-2011 academic year, Professor Johnson served as Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer at Jinan University in Guangzhou, China. His academic and scholarly interests include campaigns and elections, the profession of political consulting, technology and politics, and the history of American public policy.
Johnson has presented papers or delivered speeches at the Sixtieth Annual British Political Studies Conference, Edinburgh (2010); the Fifty-fourth Annual British American Studies Conference, University of Leicester (2006); the Sixth Annual Political Marketing Conference, Middlesex University, London (2003); GSPM-sponsored conferences on elections in Madrid (2002); the Eighth International Public Relations Symposium, Lake Bled, Slovenia (2001); the Midwest Association of Public Opinion Research, Chicago (1999); the World Congress of International Association of Political Consultants, Vienna (1998) and Milan (1999), and the European Association of Political Consultants, Palermo (2001).
Dr. Johnson has guest lectured and participated in seminars at the Rothmere Institute of American Studies, Oxford University (2011), Judge Institute of Management Studies, Cambridge University, England (1997) and the University of Innsbruck, Austria (1999). He has been interviewed by a wide variety of television and newspaper sources, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, NBC evening news, British Broadcasting Corporation, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, C-SPAN, Public Broadcasting System, MS-NBC, U.S. Information Agency, Voice of America, Middle East Television, Japan Broadcasting Corporation, and AP Television. As Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer, he lectured widely to a variety of academic, professional, and business audiences throughout China.
Education
Ph.D., Duke University
Publications
“The CyberSpace Election in Your Future,” a chapter in Bruce I. Newman, ed., Political Marketing Handbook (Sage, 1999)
“The Business of Political Consulting,” a chapter in James A. Thurber, ed., Campaign Warriors (Brookings, 2000)
“Perspectives on Political Consulting,” Journal of Political Marketing, 1:1 (October 2002)
“2000 Elections: Perspectives on the Closest Presidential Election in U.S. History,” a chapter in Bruce I. Newman and Dejan Vercic, eds., Communication of Politics (Haworth, 2003)
“Communicating with Congress,” a chapter in James A. Thurber and Colton Campbell, eds., Congress and the Internet (CQ Books, 2003)
“U.S. Congress Responds to Online Communications Needs,” in Journal of Political Marketing, 2:3 (October 2003)
“Elections and Public Polling: Will the Media Get Online Polling Right?” Journal of Psychology and Marketing, 19:12 (November 2002)
Congress Online: Bridging the Gap Between Citizens and their Representatives (Routledge, 2004)
“Campaigning on the Internet,” a chapter in Stephen C. Craig, ed., The Electoral Challenge: Theory Meets Practice (CQ Press, 2006)
“First Hurdles: The Evolution of the Pre-Primary and Primary Stages of American Presidential Elections,” a chapter in Bruce I. Newman and Philip Davies, eds., Winning Elections with Political Marketing (Haworth, 2006)
No Place for Amateurs: How Political Consultants Are Reshaping American Democracy (Routledge, 2007)
Routledge Handbook on Political Management (Routledge, 2008)
Campaigning for President 2008: Strategy and Tactics, New Voices and New Techniques (Routledge, 2009)
The Laws that Shaped America: Fifteen Acts of Congress and their Lasting Impact (Routledge, 2009)
Campaigning in the Twenty-first Century: A Whole New Ballgame? (Routledge, December 2010)
“Campaigning in the Twenty-first Century: Change and Continuity in American Political Marketing,” in Jennifer Lees-Marshment, ed., Routledge Handbook on Political Marketing (Routledge, 2011)
“Grassroots, Astroturf, and Internet Lobbying,” in Burdett Loomis, ed., Lobbying in the United States (CQ Press, 2011)
Campaigning for President 2012: Strategy and Tactics (Routledge, 2013)
Dr. Johnson also serves as senior editor of the Journal of Political Marketing (Routledge) and on the editorial board of the Journal of Public Affairs (Wiley) and the Journal of Information Technology and Politics.
Classes Taught
Advocating in Asia (Hong Kong) -- Global Perspective Program
Dennis W. Johnson
Professor Emeritus at George Washington University
George Washington University Carleton College
Washington D.C. Metro Area 269 269 connections
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George Washington University
Professor Emeritus
Company NameGeorge Washington University
Dates EmployedJun 2014 – Present Employment Duration2 yrs 11 mos
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Pat and I at home on Cape Cod.
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George Washington University
Professor, Graduate School of Political Management
Company NameGeorge Washington University
Dates EmployedSep 1993 – Jun 2014 Employment Duration20 yrs 10 mos
Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer
Company NameJinan University, Guangzhou, China
Dates EmployedAug 2010 – Jun 2011 Employment Duration11 mos
Education
Carleton College
Carleton College
Degree Name BA Field Of Study Government and International Relations
Dates attended or expected graduation 1962 – 1966
Duke University
Duke University
Degree Name PhD Field Of Study Political Science
Accomplishments
Dennis W. has 9 publications9
Publications
See publication Political Consultants and American Elections
publication titlePolitical Consultants and American Elections
publication descriptionThis third edition of book discusses the impact that professional political consultants have had on American elections and American democracy. The first and second editions were titled "No Place for Amateurs."
publication descriptionRoutledge 3rd ed
publication dateJul 5, 2015
Authors
Dennis W. Johnson
publication titleCampaigning for President 2012
publication descriptionLike Campaigning for President 2008, this work takes the skill and knowledge of political science scholars and campaign practitioners to analyze the strategy and tactics of the 2012 election. I serve as editor and one of the authors.
publication descriptionRoutledge
publication dateMay 2013
Authors
Dennis W. Johnson
See publication Campaigning for President 2008
publication titleCampaigning for President 2008
publication descriptionScholars and political consultant practitioners teamed up to analyze the strategy and tactics of the presidential candidates in the 2008 presidential election. I serve as editor and contributor to both.
publication descriptionRoutledge
publication date2009
Authors
Dennis W. Johnson
See publication The Laws that Shaped America
publication titleThe Laws that Shaped America
publication descriptionAn examination of the fifteen most important laws in U.S. history, how they were shaped, and how they have had a lasting impact on American society.
publication descriptionRoutledge
publication date2009
Authors
Dennis W. Johnson
See publication Routledge Handbook on Political Management
publication titleRoutledge Handbook on Political Management
publication descriptionForty-nine scholars and practitioners from throughout the world contributed to this volume. We surveyed the business of political consulting worldwide. I served as editor and contributor to this volume.
publication descriptionRoutledge
publication date2008
Authors
Dennis W. Johnson
publication titleCongress Online
publication descriptionExamination of how Congress has been impacted by the revolution in online communication.
publication descriptionRoutledge
publication date2004
Authors
Dennis W. Johnson
publication titleCampaigning for President 2016: Strategy and Tactics
publication descriptionHere we go again, another edited book on the Presidential elections. This time, my colleague Lara Brown from the Graduate School of Political Management, will be co-editor.
publication descriptionRoutledge, forthcoming 2017
Authors
Dennis W. Johnson
See publication Campaigning in the Twenty-First Century
publication titleCampaigning in the Twenty-First Century
publication descriptionA second edition of this book will come out in March 2016. This book analyzes how American elections have changed over the past decade, thanks to online communication and technology, but how, in many ways, the fundamentals of campaigning still very much apply.
publication descriptionRoutledge, forthcoming March 2016
Authors
Dennis W. Johnson
publication titleDemocracy for Hire: A History of American Political Consulting
publication descriptionThis is a major contribution to the field of elections and political consulting, and will be published by Oxford in October 2016.
publication descriptionOxford University Press, forthcoming
Authors
Dennis W. Johnson
QUOTED: "This extensive account of such a vital part of the modern political system makes for an accessible read."
Democracy for Hire: A History of American Political Consulting
Publishers Weekly. 263.29 (July 18, 2016): p197.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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Democracy for Hire: A History of American Political Consulting
Dennis W. Johnson. Oxford Univ., $39.95 (624p) ISBN 978-0-19-027269-2
Timed to coincide with the 2016 presidential race, this illuminating primer from Johnson (Campaigning in the Twenty-First Century) will arrive when the inner workings of political campaigns are on many people's minds. What the average voter may not realize, however, is how relatively new professional political consulting is to the American electoral process. Johnson documents the explosion of the political-consulting business, from its start in the 1930s with the husband-and-wife team of Clem Whitaker and Leone Baxter, to the growing importance of private polling from the late '50s onwards, to the influx of dark money and super PACs in recent years. Stressing the significance of adapting to new technologies, especially since the turn of the 21st century, he effectively scatters transcripts of famous political commercials throughout. He chronicles each presidential election from 1964 to the present, while also profiling political consultants who have played major roles over the years. Ultimately, the author is able to demonstrate the necessity of consulting to modern campaigns, refuting persistent claims by political scientists that it has only "minimal effects" on an already decided electorate. This extensive account of such a vital part of the modern political system makes for an accessible read, fit for academics and the general voter alike. (Nov.)
No Place For Amateurs: How Political Consultants are Reshaping American Democracy
Campaigns & Elections. 22.2 (Apr. 2001): p20.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2001 Campaigns & Elections, Inc.
http://www.campaignsandelections.com/
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No Place For Amateurs: How Political Consultants are Reshaping American Democracy, by Dennis W. Johnson, Routledge, 320 pages
Tracks changes in the political consulting industry and thoroughly looks at the dynamics of the business, celebrity practitioners, the hazards of running for office, opposition research, polling, media tactics, voter targeting and fundraising. Also explores consultant roles in ballot issue campaigns. [**]
(**.) HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
(*.) RECOMMENDED
(o.) NOT RECOMMENDED
No Place for Amateurs: How Political Consultants Are Reshaping American Democracy
Mary Carroll
Booklist. 97.11 (Feb. 1, 2001): p1025.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2001 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
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Johnson, Dennis W. No Place for Amateurs: How Political Consultants Are Reshaping American Democracy. Feb. 2001. 320p. index. Routledge, paper, $19.95 (0-415-92836-2). 324.7.
Practitioner/academic Johnson left the professorate in the early 1980s to work on Democratic campaigns; in the 1990s, he began building a graduate program in political management at George Washington University. Part One of No Place for Amateurs surveys the landscape, discussing celebrity consultants and the challenges of running for office, and proffering a case study of a fictional state legislator's effort to unseat an incumbent U.S. senator. Part Two describes the "Weapons of Modern Campaigning": candidate and opposition research; polling and focus groups; old and new media; techniques for targeting voters; and fundraising. Part Three examines new fields--like local elections and initiative/ referendum campaigns--that political consultants have entered to generate income between high-profile elections. It also addresses the important issue of how citizens can affect increasingly professionalized campaigns. Johnson considers such professionalization inevitable, but urges voters to get involved (through the Internet resources in an appendix, for example) "to recover their place in elections and democratic choice." For wanna-be consultants, a second appendix lists leading political consulting firms.
QUOTED: "There is much historical narrative here that should interest the general reader."
NO PLACE FOR AMATEURS: How Political Consultants Are Reshaping American Democracy
Publishers Weekly. 247.47 (Nov. 20, 2000): p54.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2000 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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DENNIS W. JOHNSON Routledge, $19.95 paper (320p) ISBN 0-415-92836-2
"[T]he race for office has become a race for money" -- in large part because of political, consultants, says Johnson. He should know: he's a former top political consultant and now associate dean of George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management. Johnson offers an insider's view of what political consultants do and what the repercussions are for the American democratic system. The consultant's role during a campaign is to leave as little as possible to chance. Consultants monitor public opinion via focus groups and tracking polls and spend hours digging up dirt on the opponent. In this new digital age, real-time campaigning is achievable with cutting-edge rapid-response advertising that can be prepared in advance and ready at a moment's notice to steal the spotlight from the competition. Johnson takes the reader through all the processes of spin doctoring by professional consultants -- at times in overwhelming detail -- but his main message is that the professionalization of campaigni ng has removed the average citizen from the electoral process. Johnson suggests such alienation is not inevitable, however, and he notes, albeit briefly, ways in which voters might once again he drawn into the process. He concludes that we can ameliorate the influence of professional political consultants, but his bottom line is that high-cost, high-powered political consultants are here to stay. (Feb.)
Forecast: There is much historical narrative here that should interest the general reader. But overall, the degree of specificity in the discussion makes this title most apt for academic rather than general readers.
QUOTED: "Comprehensive and lucid, this book serves as a useful primer to the political consulting business."
No Place for Amateurs: How Political Consultants Are Reshaping American Democracy
Michael A. Genovese
Library Journal. 125.19 (Nov. 15, 2000): p84.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2000 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
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Johnson, Dennis W. No Place for Amateurs: How Political Consultants Are Reshaping American Democracy. Routledge. Feb. 2001. c.320p. index. ISBN 0-415-92836-2. pap. $19.95. POLITICS
The author, associate dean of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University and a former political consultant, "critically examines the role played by political consultants" in modern campaigns. Concerned with the transition from earlier campaigns run by political parties and amateur volunteers to the emergence of a process dominated by professional consultants, the author nonetheless suggests, in what seems more like wishful thinking than hardheaded analysis, that "there is much that the citizen-volunteer can do to reclaim a voice in the conduct of campaigns." Johnson does an excellent job of describing just what political consultants do, why their services are so valuable, and what role big money plays in the electoral process. Comprehensive and lucid, this book serves as a useful primer to the political consulting business and in some ways as a warning of what has been lost in the transition from amateur/volunteer/citizen/party campaigns to highly professional, highly expensive modern elections.
--Michael A. Genovese, Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles
QUOTED: "This work will appeal to students of political campaigns as well as those interested in the increasing use of new media."
Johnson, Dennis W.: Campaigning in the twenty-first century: a whole new ballgame?
J.D. Rausch
CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. 49.1 (Sept. 2011): p207.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 American Library Association CHOICE
http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice/about
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49-0555
JK2281
2010-28850 CIP
Johnson, Dennis W. Campaigning in the twenty-first century: a whole new ballgame? Routledge, 2011. 137p bibl index ISBN 9780415800372, $135.00; ISBN 9780415800389 pbk, $28.95; ISBN 9780203878965 e-book, $28.95
This slim volume examines the change in campaign methods and technology that occurred at the cusp of the 21st century. Johnson (George Washington Univ.) argues that political campaigning has changed radically over the past several decades. The book opens with a discussion of the requirements of a successful political campaign, focusing primarily on candidate campaigns at all levels of government. In this opening chapter, the author outlines the model for campaigns in the 21st century. Chapter 2 analyzes the role of the new media (e.g., e-mail, mobile phones, Twitter, and blogs) in political campaigns. In chapter 3, Johnson assesses how campaigns adapt old media, such as direct mail and television, to the new style of campaigning. The continuing importance of money and fund-raising to campaigns is the subject of chapter 4. Chapters 5-7 consider public opinion, polling, and the outside voices that affect the direction of campaigns. The author's predictions of the changes that will occur in campaigns in the next decade are considered in the final chapter. This work will appeal to students of political campaigns as well as those interested in the increasing use of new media in politics and government. Summing Up: Recommended. ** Upper-division undergraduates and above.--J. D. Rausch, West Texas A&M University
Rausch, J.D.
Campaigning in the twenty-first century; a whole new ballgame?
Reference & Research Book News. 26.2 (Apr. 2011):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 Ringgold, Inc.
http://www.ringgold.com/
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9780415800372
Campaigning in the twenty-first century; a whole new ballgame?.
Johnson, Dennis W.
Routledge
2011
137 pages
$135.00
Hardcover
JK2281
Twenty-first century campaigning in the United States is characterized, according to Johnson (political management, George Washington U.), by responses to changes in technology and communication and changes in campaign finance law. In this work he describes the characteristics of successful 21st century campaigning, focusing on professionally-run candidate campaigns. He discusses communicating with voters using email, websites, social networking, blogging, and other forms of new media; communicating with the voters through such old media as television and direct mail; the role of raising money; the growing influence of outside voices (primarily interest groups) in campaigns; the role of survey research and measuring public opinion; identifying, targeting, and getting voters to the polling stations; and prospective future trends.
([c]2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR)
Campaigning for president 2012; strategy and tactics
Reference & Research Book News. 28.5 (Oct. 2013):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 Ringgold, Inc.
http://www.ringgold.com/
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9780415842990
Campaigning for president 2012; strategy and tactics.
Ed. by Dennis W. Johnson.
Routledge
2014
275 pages
$135.00
Hardcover
JK526
Both academics and campaign practitioners have contributed to this study of the campaign--an eminently worthwhile activity, as pointed out in the foreword, given that campaigns bring issues and contentious areas to the forefront (a predecessor volume treated the 2008 campaign). Johnson (political management, George Washington University) sets the context. Following are 12 contributions addressing various aspects of the primaries, money, communications, issues, and the general election. Appendices include a timeline, listing of candidates, Republican primary and caucus results, information about campaign spending, campaign advertisement scripts, and, most fun of all, memorable moments.
([c] Book News, Inc., Portland, OR)
QUOTED: "With Democracy for Hire, Dennis Johnson has proven himself a modern Vasari, writing the biographies of great campaigns and ... criticism of the business of political consulting."
"At 470 pages (with another 100 of annotation), it isn’t a quick read but will be an exceptionally rewarding one for scholars and politicians alike."
Democracy for Hire: A History of American Political Consulting, by Dennis W. Johnson
Kori Schake praises a forensic examination of the US political system
March 30, 2017
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By Kori Schake
Twitter: @KoriSchake
Capitol Hill
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Early this century, major league baseball was overrun by statisticians. Old-school scouts were elbowed aside by number crunchers mining data for anomalous patterns, as dramatised in Michael Lewis’ Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign ushered in the same fashion in political consulting, wagering that precise voter targeting could stimulate turnout. One of the upsides of Donald Trump’s unexpected victory in 2016 has been the debunking of that myth. Bismarck was right: politics isn’t a science, it’s an art.
With Democracy for Hire, Dennis Johnson has proven himself a modern Vasari, writing the biographies of great campaigns and art criticism of the business of political consulting. The book commences at the dawn of American political consulting in the 1930s (although a solid case can be made that Jefferson, Madison and Hamilton had pretty good form: hiring journalists to malign each other; ruthless machinations in the House of Representatives to tilt elections) and runs comprehensively through to 2016. At 470 pages (with another 100 of annotation), it isn’t a quick read but will be an exceptionally rewarding one for scholars and politicians alike.
Johnson makes a strong argument that the decline in party loyalty spawned the business of political consulting. Among the many fine attributes of Democracy for Hire is the balanced way he illustrates that political consultants are not merely barnacles encrusting the ship of state, they also bring systemic advantages: candidates left to fend for themselves take refuge in specialists that can replicate what parties once provided.
It is dispiriting to read how much campaign finance law, designed in 1971 to strengthen political parties and ensure access, has driven American democracy into a bacchanalia of dark money (predominantly spent to oppose rather than support candidates) and monster political action committees. Paradoxically, the trend has weakened actual candidates, strengthening organisations instead, and impeding compromises once elected. If you wondered how US politics got to its current parlous state, this book will show you.
I would have liked more detail on the collapse of polling as a reliable indicator of voter preference. Its reputation has been badly dented in recent years. Technology bears some of the blame (the transition from landline phones and introduction of online polling), as does the wilful misrepresentation of accuracy by pollsters themselves and by voters (the “Bradley effect” does appear to have affected some Trump voters). While much is in transition, elemental design characteristics, such as polls that capture no information unless the entire 25-minute enquiry is completed, suggest that consultants dramatically oversell the value of their analytics.
Johnson’s chapter on the 2016 campaign shows just how murky a business political consulting is. For all its grandstanding, it failed spectacularly in 2016. Trump violated practically every rule of political consultancy: grass-roots advocacy didn’t matter, money didn’t matter, “super PACs” (political action committees) didn’t matter. His campaign messages and themes weren’t field-tested. He had no PAC and no mega-donors. All he had was a pungent, direct communication that brilliantly capitalised on voter disaffection with candidates who are expertly coached by political consultants and sustained by large donations of unaccountable donations. The great baseball man Branch Rickey once said of a player: “He can’t run, he can’t hit, and he can’t throw; all he can do is beat you.” Last year proved that, despite all their tools and modern techniques, political consultants still haven’t figured out how to reliably win championships.
Kori Schake is a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
Democracy for Hire: A History of American Political Consulting
By Dennis W. Johnson
Oxford University Press, 616pp, £25.99
ISBN 9780190272692
Published 15 December 2016
The new new rules of political campaigning
Donald Trump represents a radical break with some of the old rules, and the logical conclusion of others
From the print edition | Books and arts
Nov 17th 2016
Democracy for Hire: A History of American Political Consulting. By Dennis Johnson. OUP; 591 pages; $39.95 and £25.99.
HAS Donald Trump rewritten the rulebook on American electioneering? He rejected much of his party’s ideology. And for a man for whom size is often everything, he ran a small operation. Hillary Clinton had five times as many staff in Ohio and eight times as many in Pennsylvania. Yet Mr Trump won both states, which had voted for Barack Obama four years ago.
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Dennis Johnson’s “Democracy for Hire” describes the received wisdom that prevailed for decades before Mr Trump. Candidates pursued “a particular brand of polished authenticity…homespun and unfiltered”—but to achieve it, they turned to professionals. Warren Harding hired an advertising man to overhaul his public image as long ago as 1920. Harding’s successor, Calvin Coolidge, focused on swing states, not yet so named, at the urging of a bold strategist. Mr Trump, by contrast, was known for heaping scorn on Washington’s traditional political experts.
But in other ways, Mr Trump does not represent a break with existing strategies as much as embody their logical conclusions. Already in the 1960s, Joseph Napolitan announced a “new politics” in which candidates would speak directly to voters, increasingly bypassing the parties that nominated them. Napolitan’s Democrats had found John Kennedy, a candidate with the presence to carry a campaign on his shoulders. Mr Trump’s campaign was the apotheosis of this personality-centred operation. His party trailed in his wake, unsure whether he was leading it to the White House or electoral oblivion.
Mr Johnson also chronicles the rise of “slashing negative television advertisements, character assassination and partial truths” in winning elections. He argues that this crossed over from local campaigns to presidential politics in 1988, when George H.W. Bush’s team launched vicious attacks accusing his opponent, Michael Dukakis, of being soft on crime. Mr Trump’s attacks on “Crooked Hillary” Clinton as herself worthy of a prison cell were, seen in this light, another culmination, not a radical break.
Finally, Mr Trump understood that just as television supplanted radio as the primary way to connect to voters, the internet is sidelining TV. In 2004 John Kerry’s election hopes were sunk by ads that questioned his Vietnam-war record. Mr Johnson cites a Gallup poll showing that 80% of voters were aware of them within three weeks of their airing, in part thanks to online distribution. Mr Trump broadcast just a third as many televised adverts as Mrs Clinton. But his real strength was in attention-grabbing attacks in tweets and speeches, amplified endlessly online by fans, foes and stunned journalists.
“Democracy for Hire” ends with a warning. Mr Johnson describes how laws attempting to rein in the huge increase in campaign spending have been filleted by the Supreme Court. Companies and interest groups can now give virtually without limit, diminishing the influence of political parties. Mr Johnson is right to be concerned, but here Mr Trump did take a different strategy. Forever the businessman, he kept costs down and exploited one of the few financial restrictions still standing: that campaigns have to pay firms fair value for services rendered. Thus Mr Trump was able to allocate about $8m of his campaign funds to pay family members and his own businesses for services. Sometimes it pays to play by the rules.
This article appeared in the Books and arts section of the print edition under the headline "The art of political war"