Political Science 357: Campaigns and Elections
Professor Jeffrey L. Bernstein
Fall 2013
Class meets on Monday and Wednesday, 2 P.M. – 3:15 P.M., 303 Pray-Harrold
Class Overview
Elections matter. Whether they are good for democracy or not, I’m not so sure. But I know they matter,
in that they pick who will govern us and what policies we will pursue. They also show us a great deal
about who we are as a country, and who we want to be. I hope I don’t need to say a whole lot more to
convince you that this subject is important and worthy of serious study by political science students, and
by anyone who wishes to understand America in the 21st century.
As for the class: well, the campaigns and elections course varies based on when it is offered, as you
might expect. Last year, when the course met during the 2012 general election, we had no shortage of
current events to keep us busy – class time was spent analyzing the campaign, the debates, the polls,
and the results. This year, of course, we have very little going on in terms of active campaigns and
elections to keep us busy. Gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey just ain’t gonna do it.
So, we’ll do things a little differently. This semester, we will be looking forward, toward the 2016
presidential election. Each of you will be part of a group that prepares a strategy for one of the
candidates seeking the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. This will involve working on the
“messaging” for your candidate, preparing and focus group-testing television ads for the candidate, and
developing electoral strategies to bring your candidate to the White House in three years. The work
we’ll be doing will be hard, but it will be fun. It will also give you an opportunity to learn about running
campaigns in a very practical sense.
2
This is not to say we will forget about the past! We will spend a good bit of time concentrating on the
historical development of American elections, focusing particularly on the latter half of the twentieth
century as a time of dramatic change. The 2008, 2010 and 2012 elections will, of course, occupy a good
bit of our time this semester. We will use them to set a basis for comparison with previous elections,
and as background as we do the group projects on the 2016 election. Moreover, these were interesting
elections, well worthy of our attention in and of themselves.
All in all, I am very much looking forward to this class and trust it will be a good experience for all of us!
A Little Bit about Me and My Teaching Philosophy
I have been a professor in the Department of Political Science at Eastern since 1997. My wife Lisa and I
have been married for twenty years and have two sons, Zachary (14) and Solomon (9). I’m a long-time
fanatically-devoted fan of the New York Mets and New York Islanders, and I have watched Apollo 13
many more than thirteen times. I’m a fan of classic sitcoms (Cheers, M*A*S*H, The Brady Bunch, All in
the Family, etc.), which often help me take my mind off how bad the Mets and Islanders usually are
doing. One of my hobbies is juggling things like balls, rings, rubber chickens, clubs, and flaming torches.
I like to laugh, so I’m going to try to make class as fun and interesting as possible for all of us.
As for my teaching philosophy: after doing this college teaching thing for twenty years, I think I’ve
reduced my philosophy of teaching down to one sentence: my job is to provide scaffolding to enable
you to reach great heights. That’s my role; that’s what I do.
What does this mean? For our course, this has two practical implications. First, I am going to demand
that you reach great heights. This is an upper-level class at the university level, and I do not intend to
give away grades or college credits. You will have to work, and you will have to work hard. You will
read a lot, write a lot, and engage in a significant applied research project that will require a great deal
of effort and excellence from each of you. All of this work is aimed at teaching you a great deal about
campaigns and elections; if you complete this class successfully, you will understand American electoral
politics, and will gain insights into how to design campaign strategies for presidential candidates. The
hard work in here is a necessary requirement to achieving this deep learning.
3
Now perhaps I have you all contemplating dropping this class!  Before you do, let me know share with
you the other piece of my teaching philosophy. I will provide you with all the support I possibly can to
help you achieve my goals for you. I will make myself available to you in office hours, and outside of
office hours (see below). I will happily meet with you (and your partners in the group project) to help
you with the significant project for the term. Each of the campaign groups will have a peer mentor
assigned to them, whose job it will be to work with you to help develop the various reports and
presentations. I will assign readings that will engage and interest you, give exams that are a fair test of
the course material, and will structure assignments to help you master course material. I want you to
achieve great things in this class, and I will do whatever I possibly can to help you get there. You do your
part, I’ll do mine, and we’ll make this all work out well.
How to Contact Me:
Office:
Office Hours:
E-mail:
601E Pray-Harrold, 487-6970 (direct) or 487-3113 (Political Science Department)
Mondays and Wednesdays, 10 A.M. – 12 P.M.;
Tuesdays 11:00 A.M. – 12:30 P.M.; and by appointment
jeffrey.bernstein@emich.edu
I’m usually not hard to find. I’m on e-mail all the time, and will try to check my voice mail at least once a
day. I welcome visitors during office hours – this is your time, and I enjoy the company and the chance
to get to know you. If you’d like to talk in person but my office hours don’t work for you, let me know
and we can find a different time that works for both of us. Please do not hesitate to be in touch if you
have any concerns about the class, or if you want to talk about other stuff.
Assignments
Reading
There are three required books for this course. The books should be available at all the usual
bookstores (as well as online, where you might very well find some better deals). The books are as
follows:
4
Balz, Dan and Haynes Johnson. 2010. The Battle for America: The Story of an Extraordinary
Election. New York: Penguin Books. Hereafter referred to as Balz and Johnson.
Nelson, Michael (ed). 2014. The Elections of 2012. Los Angeles: CQ Press. Hereafter referred to
as Nelson.
Sides, John, Daron Shaw, Matt Grossman, and Keena Lipsitz. 2012. Campaigns and Elections:
Rules, Reality, Strategy, Choice. New York: WW Norton and Company. Hereafter
referred to as Sides, Shaw, Grossman and Lipsitz.
Short Essay
Your assignments for this course will fall a few different categories. First, you will have one short essay
to write this semester. The assignment will be given to you on the first day of class and will be due on
Wednesday, September 18. The essay will ask you to consider some general perspectives on elections.
The essay will be fairly short (around 1000-1200 words) and will be fun for you to do. Trust me. 
Exams
There will also be two exams in this class. The first will be a midterm exam, to be given in class on
Wednesday, October 23. The exam will be made up of essay questions. There will also be a take-home
final examination essay, due on Monday, December 9. Questions for the take-home exam will be given
out one week in advance – the exam will be cumulative, covering material from throughout the course.
I cannot even begin to tell you how much fun this will be!
The Big Project: Planning a Campaign
As our big project this semester, you will work in a group of 4-5 students to prepare a campaign plan for
one of the potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates. I’ve chosen to have us do this work for
one of the Republican candidates since I believe their nomination is more wide open, and that it offers
us some pedagogically useful material to explore. The major pieces of this project include the following:
A. Campaign Assignment #1: Messaging. As part of this assignment, you will work on
developing themes that you might use for the campaign, trying to distill them into a
cohesive message for the campaign (some might even call this “branding” the campaign and
the candidate). You will research the candidate, come up with some possible messages, and
then gather data from a pool of research subjects (details to follow) on how well the
5
different potential messages played with the respondents. You will write this process up as
Campaign Assignment #1, due on Wednesday, October 16.
B. Campaign Assignment #2: Commercials. For this assignment, you will develop three
potential commercials that you might use for the candidate. One will be a biography ad,
introducing the candidate to the country. The second will be a general positive ad, while the
third will be a negative ad directed at one of the opponents. These commercials will be
developed, and then tested in a focus group setting (using the pool of research subjects to
be described in class). A memo detailing the process of creating the commercials, the
reaction of the focus groups to the commercials, and how you would change the
commercials before airing them, will be due on Monday, November 11.
C. Multimedia Presentation of Report to Candidate. On one of the three days before
Thanksgiving, you will be presenting the report to the class (you may think of the class as
representing the candidate and entourage). The report should focus on how the candidate
who has hired you can get elected president in November of 2016 (and, by extension, how
he or she can get the Republican nomination). It should use available polling data, as well as
the reports from the messaging and commercial sessions, to provide strategic guidance. It
should also show examples of how the campaign will get its message across, and how it will
act in accordance with the structural rules of the campaign process to pull off a victory in
three years. The presentation should last about twenty minutes, and will be followed by
discussion. Actual dates for the presentation will be determined by a random drawing.
D. Follow-up Presentation to Candidate’s Team. Either on the date of the final, or another
date scheduled around that time, your group will meet with me and with your peer mentor
to follow-up on the pre-Thanksgiving oral presentation. In this meeting, you will follow up
on any issues that arose in the first presentation, and will also have the opportunity to raise
any lingering concerns as you go about finishing the project. This will be an ungraded
meeting, held in lieu of an in-class final, but it is a required part of the completed project.
E. Final Written Report. The final piece of the project will be a written report (with
appropriate video and other links), submitted by Wednesday, December 18. The final
report should cover all of the items discussed previously, and should be written in a format
that can be used by the candidate to decide if a run for the White House is warranted. I’ll
have more specific instructions to offer you as things roll along, but you can certainly view
this as a major assignment, and as a major part of your grade for the semester.
6
A Few Other Notes
Let me make a couple of other comments here. First of all, academic integrity. Here at the university,
there are few issues that are more important. Academic dishonesty, including all forms of cheating
and/or plagiarism, will not be tolerated in this class. Anyone caught engaging in academic dishonesty
will receive a grade of zero for the assignment in question and may, at my discretion, receive a failing
grade for the entire course. In addition, you may be referred to the Office of Student Conduct and
Community Standards for discipline that could result in suspension or permanent dismissal from the
university. If you are not sure whether something constitutes academic dishonesty, talk to me.
For students with disabilities, if you wish to be accommodated for your disability, EMU policy requires
that you first register with the Disability Resource Center in room 240K of the Student Center. You may
contact the DRC by phone at (734) 487-2470; their website is http://www.emich.edu/drc/. Students
with disabilities are encouraged to register with DRC soon as you will only be accommodated from the
date you register with them forward. No retroactive accommodations are possible. I am more than
willing to offer you all accommodations to which you are entitled, but emphasize this is not something I
can do on my own. If you have any questions, talk to me or the Disability Resource Center.
I am willing to make all reasonable accommodations for absences caused by religious observation. I do
ask that you keep me posted when situations like this occur. Like most people, I am familiar with
religious observances in my own faith, but know less about other religions. Perhaps your informing me
of your absences, should they be necessary, will give me an opportunity to learn something new!
One other thing – for purposes of this course, when I need to reach all of the students, I will use e-mail,
specifically e-mail sent to your emich.edu address. Please make sure that all messages sent to this
account are accessible by you and, if you use a different account, that you are able to forward EMU emails to your other account. I will consider you to have been informed about something connected with
the course if I e-mail it to you at your emich.edu address
Grading
Grades will be determined by the chart below. I will guarantee you whatever grade the chart says you
should get. I do reserve the right to raise grades on the basis of such things as dramatic improvement
during the term, strong class participation, or exemplary work on the group assignments. I am happy to
raise grades should circumstances warrant.
7
Date
Assignment
Percentage
of Grade
Wednesday, September 18
Short Essay Assignment #1 is due
10
Wednesday, October 23
Monday, December 9
Midterm Examination
Final Examination Essay is due
15
15
Wednesday, October 16
Monday, November 11
Monday, November 18 through
Monday, November 25
Monday, December 16 (approx.)
Wednesday, December 18
Campaign Assignment #1 is due
Campaign Assignment #2 is due
Presentation of Campaign Plans to Candidates
10
15
10
Meeting regarding Final Campaign Assignment
Final Campaign Assignment is due
Ungraded
25
All Semester
Class Participation
Add-on
As I said above, I believe it is my job to set a high bar for you – the work you will do this semester is
difficult. It will challenge you, and it will keep you hopping. This is a three-credit, upper-level political
science class, and I intend to have you earn these credits – I’m not just giving it away. But I also believe
it is my job to help you achieve these high standards by scaffolding the work. I will provide you support,
in many ways, on all assignments (the peer mentors, to cite just one example, should be invaluable for
you in the group work). I will push you hard, but I will make sure you have the support you need to do
all the work I ask of you. The effort, however, must be provided by you. I trust it will be.
Schedule of Readings and Classes
Below, I have placed a daily schedule for the course. I anticipate sticking closely to this outline, although
we may deviate from it slightly should events warrant. Please make sure to use this section of the
syllabus to keep track of your readings and assignments; remember that all readings should be done
before class on the day for which it is assigned.
8
Wednesday, September 4 – Introduction to the Course
Reading:
Noel, Hans. 2010. “Ten Things Political Scientists Know That You Don’t.” The Forum Volume 8:
Issue 3, Article 12.
Available at http://www.bepress.com/forum/vol8/iss3/art12.
Assignments:
1. Today, I will give out short essay assignment #1. It will be due on Wednesday, September
18.
Monday, September 9 and Wednesday, September 11 – No Class
Class will not meet these days, as I will be in Santiago, Chile, speaking at a conference. In my absence,
you should do the following:
1. Read The Battle for America: The Story of an Extraordinary Election, by Dan Balz and Haynes
Johnson.
2. Make progress on short essay assignment #1.
Monday, September 16 – Understanding the Epic Election of 2008
Reading:
Sides, Shaw, Grossman and Lipsitz, Chapters 1 and 2.
The Battle for America, the whole entire book!
Assignments:
1. You should continue to be working on short essay assignment #1. It will be due on
Wednesday.
2. Today, I will introduce the major project for the term, a campaign memo for a prospective
presidential candidate.
Wednesday, September 18 – Putting 2008 in Historical Context
Reading:
Sides, Shaw, Grossman and Lipsitz, Chapter 3.
Assignments:
1. Short essay assignment #1 is due today.
2. Today we will form groups for the campaign memo project. Each group will come up with a
name for the consulting firm that it is forming.
9
Monday, September 23 – Considering 2012 (Yes, We Must….) – Nominations
Reading:
Sides, Shaw, Grossman and Lipsitz, Chapter 8, pages 214-229.
Burden, Barry C. “The Nominations: Ideology, Timing and Organization.” In Nelson.
Assignments:
1. Today we will finalize groups for the campaign project. You will receive some important
information concerning this assignment. You should be getting started on some research
concerning this assignment.
Wednesday, September 25 – Considering 2012 – General Election
Reading:
Sides, Shaw, Grossman and Lipsitz, Chapter 8, pages 229-249.
Hetherington, Marc J. “The Election: How the Campaign Mattered.” In Nelson.
Assignments:
1. You should be making some progress on preliminary research for the campaign assignment.
2. Today you will receive campaign assignment #1 (due on Wednesday, October 16).
Monday, September 30 – Post-Mortem on 2012
Reading:
Bouie, Janelle. 2013. “Forward: The Future of the Democratic Party.” In Sabato, Larry, ed.
Barack Obama and the New America. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Costa, Robert. 2013. “A Time for Choosing: The Future of the Republican Party.” In Sabato,
Larry, ed. Barack Obama and the New America. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Assignments:
1. You should be working on campaign assignment #1 (due on Wednesday, October 16).
Wednesday, October 2 – Important Background on the GOP Going Forward
Class will not meet today, as I will be in Raleigh, North Carolina, at a conference. In my absence, you
should use today to meet with your group (I suggest using class time to meet over coffee) and discuss
how you will attack Campaign Assignment #1). The assignment will require you to do a lot of work,
soon, so a productive workday would be quite valuable at this stage. There are also two very long
readings assigned for Monday, October 7, so getting an early start on them would be advisable.
10
Reading (for next Monday):
Barbour, Henry, Sally Bradshaw, Ari Fleischer, Zori Fonalledas and Glenn McCall. 2013. “Growth
and Opportunity Project.” A Report Paid for by the Republican National Committee.
College Republican National Committee. 2013. “Grand Old Party for a Brand New Generation.”
I would pay very, very, very close attention to this one. Very close attention.
Assignments:
1. You should be working on campaign assignment #1.
Monday, October 7 – Discussing the Future of the GOP
Reading:
Two reports listed above.
Assignments:
1. You should be working on Campaign Assignment #1, due on October 16.
Wednesday, October 9 – Campaign Strategy (Overview)
Reading:
1. Sides, Shaw, Grossman and Lipsitz, Chapter 5.
2. Nesmith, Bruce and Paul J. Quirk. “The Presidency: No Exit from Deadlock.” In Nelson.
Assignments:
1. You should be working hard on Campaign Assignment #1, due on October 21.
2. Today I will give out Campaign Assignment #2, due on November 11.
Monday, October 14 – More on Campaign Strategy
Reading:
Issenberg, Sasha. 2012. “The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns.” New
York: Crown Publishers. Chapter 5.
Rutenberg, Jim. 2013. “The Obama Campaign’s Digital Masterminds Cash In.” New York Times
Magazine, June 20.
Assignments:
1. You should be working hard on Campaign Assignment #1, due on October 21.
2. It’s never too early to be thinking about the Midterm Exam (October 23).
3. It’s never too early to be thinking about Campaign Assignment #2, due on November 11.
11
Wednesday, October 16 – Campaign Money
Reading:
Sides, Shaw, Grossman and Lipsitz, Chapter 4.
Franz, Michael M. 2010. "The Citizens United Election? Or Same As It Ever Was?" The Forum
Volume 8, Issue 4, Article 7.
Available at http://www.bepress.com/forum/vol8/iss4/art7.
Assignments:
1. Campaign Assignment #1 is due today.
2. The midterm is coming up on October 23. That’s soon…..
3. Campaign Assignment #2 is due on November 11. Many moving parts with this assignment.
v
Monday, October 21 – More on Campaign Money
Reading:
Currinder, Marian. “Campaign Finance: Campaigning in a Post-Citizens United Era.” In Nelson.
Assignments:
1. The midterm is coming up on Wednesday
2. You should already be working on Campaign Assignment #2, due on November 11.
Wednesday, October 23 – Midterm Examination
Reading:
None for today.
Assignments:
1. Study Hard!
2. Time to really get moving on Campaign Assignment #2, due on November 11.
Monday, October 28 – Politics, the Media, and Elections
Reading:
Sides, Shaw, Grossman and Lipsitz, Chapter 7.
Hershey, Marjorie Randon. “The Media: Different Audiences Saw Different Campaigns.” In
Nelson.
Assignments:
1. You should be working hard on Campaign Assignment #2, due on November 11.
2. Never too early to start thinking about your presentation, shortly before Thanksgiving.
12
Wednesday, October 30 – More on the Media
Reading:
Owen, Diana. 2013. “Voters to the Sidelines: Old and New Media in the 2012 Election.” In
Sabato, Larry, ed. Barack Obama and the New America. Lanham, MD: Rowman and
Littlefield.
Assignments:
1. You should be working hard on Campaign Assignment #2, due on November 11.
2. Never too early to start thinking about your presentation, shortly before Thanksgiving.
Monday, November 4 – Mobilization, De-Mobilization & Political Participation
Reading:
Sides, Shaw, Grossman and Lipsitz, Chapter 11.
Issenberg, Sasha. 2012. “The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns.” New
York: Crown Publishers. Chapter 7.
Michael P. McDonald. 2008. "The Return of the Voter: Voter Turnout in the 2008 Presidential
Election," The Forum Volume 6, Issue 4, Article 4.
Available at http://www.bepress.com/forum/vol6/iss4/art4.
Assignments:
1. You should be working hard on Campaign Assignment #2, due on November 11.
2. Start serious thinking about your presentation, to take place shortly before Thanksgiving.
Wednesday, November 6 – Voting Behavior in Presidential Elections
Reading:
Sides, Shaw, Grossman and Lipsitz, Chapter 12.
Mellow, Nicole. “Voting Behavior: How the Democrats Rejuvenated Their Coalition.” In Nelson.
Assignments:
1. You should be working hard on Campaign Assignment #2, due on Monday.
2. Your group’s presentation to the candidate is coming up!
Monday, November 11 – Congressional Elections
Reading:
Sides, Shaw, Grossman and Lipsitz, Chapter 9.
Jacobson, Gary C. “Congress: Partisanship and Polarization.” In Nelson.
Assignments:
1. Campaign Assignment #2 is due today.
2. We will hold the lottery today to see which group will do its presentation on which day.
3. You really should be hard at work planning the presentation!
13
Wednesday, November 13 – State and Local Elections
Reading:
Sides, Shaw, Grossman and Lipsitz, Chapter 10.
Skelley, Geoffrey. 2013. “Candidates Matter: 2012’s Senate and Gubernatorial Contests.” In
Sabato, Larry, ed. Barack Obama and the New America. Lanham, MD: Rowman and
Littlefield.
Assignments:
1. The presentations begin on Monday. Be ready!
Monday, November 18 – Campaign Presentations #1 and #2
The groups presenting on each of the next three days will be randomly determined. I am very much
looking forward to the presentations today, and then on Wednesday and next Monday.
Wednesday, November 20 – Campaign Presentations #3 and #4
Monday, November 25 – Campaign Presentations #5 and #6
Wednesday, November 27 – No Class Today (Thanksgiving Break)
Take today off. What the heck, take the whole weekend! By this point, I think you’ll need the break!
Monday, December 2 – And Then What? Governing after an Election
Reading:
Nelson, Michael. “2012 and Beyond: Barack Obama and the Perils of Second-term Presidents.”
In Nelson.
Assignments:
1. Today you will receive the questions for your take-home final exam essay. It will be due on
Monday, December 9.
2. You should be preparing your final report on the campaign, due on Wednesday, December
18.
14
Wednesday, December 4 – Stepping Back, One More Time, into 2012
Reading:
Mayhew, David R. “The Meaning of the 2012 Election.” In Nelson.
Assignments:
1. Your take-home final exam essay is due on Monday.
2. Your final campaign memo for the candidate is due on Wednesday, December 18.
Monday, December 9 – Looking Ahead, One More Time, into 2016
Reading:
No reading for today.
Assignments:
1. Your final examination essay is due today.
2. You should be moving toward finishing your Campaign Assignment, due next Wednesday.
Wednesday, December 11 – Fixing the System? How?
Reading:
Sides, Shaw, Grossman and Lipsitz, Chapter 13.
Assignments:
1. Your Campaign Assignment is due in one week.
Monday, December 16 – FINAL MEETING RE: CAMPAIGN ASSIGNMENT
Class does not meet today. At one point during the day (or very close to this day), you and your
campaign team will meet with me and with your peer mentor to discuss the final assignment, in
preparation for the Wednesday due date for the final assignment.
Wednesday, December 18 – FINAL CAMPAIGN ASSIGNMENT DUE TODAY
Class does not meet today. Your Campaign Assignment is due by 5 P.M. It should be submitted as one
multimedia document, with appropriate links.
Conclusion
This is gonna be fun…….