Modern Political Campaigns

Michael D. Cohen, a 20+ year veteran of working on, teaching, and writing about political campaigns, takes readers through how campaigns are organized, the state-of-the-art tools of the trade, and how some of the most interesting people in politics got their big breaks.

MICHAEL D. COHEN, PH.D. is CEO of Cohen Research Group, a leading political, public affairs, and corporate research firm. He publishes the pioneering Congress in Your Pocket suite of AI-driven mobile apps and teaches courses at Johns Hopkins University and New York University on digital political strategy and political campaigning. He is the author of Modern Political Campaigns: How Professionalism, Technology, and Speed Have Revolutionized Elections. After running political campaigns in college, Dr. Cohen served in leadership positions at The Gallup Organization, Microsoft, USA Facts, and Purple Strategies, as well as two political polling firms. He is a three-time graduate of the University of Florida with degrees in mass communications and political science, and he is a member of its leadership Hall of Fame.

Contents Preface Introduction Chapter 1 - Parties and Elections Chapter 2 - Planning and Management Chapter 3 - Fundraising Chapter 4 - Independent Groups Chapter 5 - Vulnerability and Opposition Research Chapter 6 - Data and Analytics Chapter 7 - Focus Groups and Polling Chapter 8 - Earned Media Chapter 9 - Paid Media Chapter 10 - Social Media Chapter 11 - Field Operations Chapter 12 - The New Permanent Campaign Afterword Acknowledgments Appendix Index