Review
"Inside Campaigns takes readers into the world of campaign managers. Powered by scores of interviews and surveys of political professionals, the book considers the purpose, potency, and poetry of modern political campaigns in the US.Written by a team with both a scholarly pedigree and a hand in applied politics, Inside Campaigns is a deeper, more systematic approach than seen in several other volumes that do little more than transcribe the comments of political professionals. Instead, the authors take readers on a carefully laid out guided tour of major campaign tasks, such as voter targeting and message strategy. Though the typical campaign text is stuffed with data and wrung free of life, Inside Campaigns includes the drama and intrigue that courses through the topic. Run the negative ad or not? Put money into afield staff, or shift resources elsewhere? These are decisions that can elect candidates and determine whether campaign professionals will work again. An invaluable guide for college students considering a career in campaign politics and a useful work for any campaigns class."
Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through professionals. -- D. Niven, University of Cincinnati
"The strength of Inside Campaigns is its differentiation from most other books in this market. Extensive interviews conducted by the authors with campaign managers results in an insider view that isn’t typically present in a book written by political scientists. Feltus, Goldstein, and Dallek are able to juxtapose the theories typically used by political scientists with the knowledge given by campaign managers, providing readers with a unique 360 degree perspective." -- Travis N. Ridout
"I am impressed not only by the purpose of Feltus, Goldstein, and Dallek’s text―to bring real-world perspectives to the study of an immensely important part of campaigns and elections―but also by their fascinating take on the debate over the degree to which campaigns matter. Their argument is rational, powerful, and well documented, as is their distinction among structure, share, and persuasion in planning and executing campaigns. Well done." -- Malcolm Cross
"Feltus, Goldstein, and Dallek offer a comprehensive text on the role of campaign managers in devising campaign strategy and carrying it through. The use of testimony and statements from practitioners, both well-known and less well-known, provides the book with an air of authenticity. The integration of scholarship on the topic, with related anecdotes, case studies, and statements from actual campaign managers adds to the overall narrative and argument. Campaigns do matter, especially with the focus on the margins, and this is borne out in the text." -- Adam Silver
About the Author
William J. Feltus is senior vice-president at National Media Research Planning and Placement LLC, an advertising and media agency in Alexandria, Virginia, where he manages political, corporate, and not-for-profit clients. Mr. Feltus is recognized as an innovator in the application of media research data to political and public affairs marketing. Providing polling, communications, and advertising services, he has worked for eight presidential campaigns and for gubernatorial, Senate and Congressional clients in forty-four states. Feltus has been a press secretary in the U.S. Senate, deputy campaign manager of President George H. W. Bush’s unsuccessful 1992 re-election bid, and staff director of the U.S. Senate Republican Conference. He received his B.A. from Yale and his M.B.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. Feltus has been an adjunct instructor at Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University and the University of San Francisco.
Ken Goldstein is a professor of Politics at the University of San Francisco and founding Director of the USF in DC program. Goldstein earned his PhD at the University of Michigan and before joining the University of San Francisco, he was a professor of Political Science at University of Wisconsin-Madison. While at the University of Wisconsin, he won the Kellet Award for his career research accomplishments and the Chancellor’s Award for excellence in teaching.
His publications on political advertising, voter turnout, survey methodology, presidential elections, and news coverage have appeared in top line political science journals and major university presses as well as in refereed law and medical journals.
Goldstein combines his academic training with an ear for real politics and strategy as well as an impressive set of contacts and extensive professional experience in a variety of media, corporate, and political settings. Goldstein is currently a consultant for the ABC News elections unit and a member of their election night decision team. He has worked on network election night coverage in every U.S. federal election since 1988. You can read here about some of what he does on election nights.
Goldstein’s reputation for unbiased and non-partisan analysis has made him a favorite source for politicians and the news media alike. He has appeared numerous times on Newshour, ABC World News Tonight, NBC NightlyNews, CBS Evening News, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, CNBC and CNN, and is a frequent contributor on National Public Radio. He is also quoted extensively in the country’s top newspapers. Goldstein also hosted a weekly interview show, “Office Hours” that was broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
Matthew Dallek (Ph.D., Columbia University) is an assistant professor of political management in the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University, where he teaches courses on political leadership, the presidency, and Washington’s political culture. He is the author of The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan’s First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics (Oxford University Press, 2004) and the forthcoming Defenseless Under the Night: The Roosevelt Years and the Origins of Homeland Security (Oxford University Press, 2016). His articles and reviews have appeared in many scholarly and popular publications including the Forum, the Journal of Policy History, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and Politico. In addition, he has been a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a visiting scholar at Stanford University’s Bill Lane Center for the American West. He served as a speechwriter for House minority leader Richard A. Gephardt as well as William E. Kennard, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
