Books in the Lexington Studies in Political Communication series

Gender and Political Communication in America is a comprehensive anthology of work that investigates, from a rhetorical and critical standpoint, the intersection and mutual influences of gender and political communication. Building on existing theory and research, the contributors update and interrogate contemporary issues of gendered politics applicable to the 21st century, including the historic 2008 election.

Over the past two decades, citizens, organizations, and governments have passionately debated the nature of the consequences of nuclear production, and how they should be managed. This volume focuses on the role of communication in shaping-and potentially resolving-the conflicts that emerge during these debates.

Over the past two decades, citizens, organizations, and governments have passionately debated the nature of the consequences of nuclear production, and how they should be managed. This volume focuses on the role of communication in shaping-and potentially resolving-the conflicts that emerge during these debates.

Picturing China in the American Press juxtaposes what the ordinary American news reader was shown visually inTime Magazine between 1949 and 1973 with contemporary perspectives on the behind-the-scenes history of the period. Time Magazine is an especially fruitful source for such a visual-historical contrast and comparison because it was China-centric, founded and run by Henry Luce, a man who loved China and was commensurably obsessed with winning China to democracy and Western influence. Picturing China examines in detail major events (the Korean War and Nixon's trip to China), less considerable occurrences (shellings of Straits islands and diplomatic flaps), great personages (Chairman Mao and Henry Kissinger), and the common people and common life of China as seen through the lenses and described by the pens of American reporters, artists, photographers, and editors. Picturing China in the American Press is of great interest to both scholars of communications, Chinese history, China Studies, and journalists.

Images, Issues, and Attacks explores important differences between incumbents and challengers in the uses of televised advertising in modern presidential elections.

As Americans worry ever more about the effects of media on the quality of public deliberation, they have developed a renewed interest in public discussion, especially face-to-face public discussion. Over a century ago, public forums_organized and widespread_provided a place where citizens could discuss the political issues of the day, and they became a means of adult civic education. William M. Keith documents the college course developed by the new field of Speech to teach the skills of discussion, as well as the forum movement, which culminated in the Federal Forum Project. Using primary sources from archives around the country, Democracy as Discussion traces the early history of the Speech field, the development of discussion as an alternative to debate, and the Deweyan Progressive philosophy of discussion that swept the U.S. For the first time the structure and details of the Federal Forum project in the context of the forum movement and adult civic education in the U.S. are recounted and analyzed, making this book a valuable resource in the study of political communication and history.

Maryland Politics and Political Communication, 1950-2005 is not a survey of all that occurred between 1950 and 2005. Rather, this book focuses on a set of interesting political events in which communication is a very important variable. These events, be they elections or episodes of governance, are also_arguably_the most dramatic ones during the period. It begins with an examination of George Wallace's 1964 and 1972 campaigns in the state's Democratic presidential primary, considers William Donald Schaefer's flamboyant communication strategies as Baltimore mayor and the vicious 1986 U.S. Senate campaign between Democrat Barbara Mikulski and Linda Chavez, and runs through the 2002 gubernatorial race between Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Robert L. Ehrlich. Sheckels highlights the similarities and differences between political communication at state and national levels and looks forward to questions and scenarios that may emerge in future elections.

Familiar narratives and simplistic stereotypes frame the representation of women in U.S. politics. Pervasive containment rhetorics, such as the distinction between women as mothers and caregivers and men as rational thinkers, create unique hurdles for any woman seeking public office. While these 'governing codes' generally act to constrain female political power, they can also be harnessed as a resource depending on the particular circumstances (e.g., party affiliation, geographic location and personal style). One of these governing codes, the metaphor, is an especially powerful tool in politics today, particularly for women. By examining the political careers of four of the most prominent and influential women in contemporary U.S. politics_Democrats Ann Richards and Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republicans Christine Todd Whitman and Elizabeth Dole_Karrin Vasby Anderson and Kristina Horn Sheeler illustrate how metaphors in public discourse may be both familiar narratives to embrace and boundaries to overturn.

Cracked But Not Shattered thoroughly analyzes Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination with an eye to identifying what went wrong-why, the frontrunner, she ended up not breaking "the glass ceiling." Although her communication was flawed and the media coverage of her did reflect biases, these essays demonstrate how her campaign was in trouble from the start because of her gender, status as a former First Lady, and being half of a political couple.

This book is a comprehensive content analysis of the use of polls by the three major television network newscasts during presidential general election campaigns from 1968 to 2016. It documents the dramatic increase of polls and the decline in coverage of substantive issues and the candidates' policy positions over that time.

Ending Racial Preferences: The Michigan Story provides an in-depth account of the 2006 Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, told from the perspective of Toward A Fair Michigan, a non-partisan educational organization. The book also analyzes the campaigning and impact of similar initiatives in California, Florida, Washington, and the city of Houston.

This book theorizes and tests the conditions under which the press is a powerful political institution, and when it cedes its power to other institutions and actors. It gives a theoretical framework and substantive case studies to aid scholars across a wide area of American politics in understanding the news media's role in American politics.

Post-9/11 American Presidential Rhetoric examines the communication offensive orchestrated by George W. Bush and the members of his administration between the initial terrorism crisis of September 11, 2001 and the March 20, 2003 invasion of Iraq.

What exactly is happening when politicians evoke a center space beyond partisan politics to advance what are unmistakably political arguments? Drawing from an analysis of pivotal speeches surrounding Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign and first term in office, Centrist Rhetoric: The Production of Political Transcendence in the Clinton Presidency takes an extended look at this question by showing how the possibility of political transcendence takes form in the rhetoric of the political center. Faced with a divided and shrinking party, and later with a pitched battle against a resurgent conservative movement, Clinton used the image of a political center, a 'third way' beyond liberal and conservative orthodoxies, to advance his strategic goals, define his adversaries, and overcome key political challenges. As appeals to the center helped Clinton to achieve these advantages in specific cases, however, they also served to define the means, ends, and very essence of democracy in ambiguous and contradictory ways. Touching on controversies from the early 1990s over the future of the Democratic Party, racial identity in American politics, the threat of rightwing extremism, and the role of government, Antonio de Velasco show how centrist rhetoric's call to transcendence weaved together forms of identification and division, insight and blindness, so as to defy the conventional assessments of both Clinton's supporters and his detractors. Centrist Rhetoric thus offers general insight into the workings of political rhetoric, and a specific appreciation of Clinton's attempts to define and adjust to the political exigencies of a critical period in history of the Democratic Party and politics in the United States.

A Communication Universe: Manifestations of Meaning, Stagings of Significance presents a new theoretical understanding of communication. Igor E. Klyukanov conceptualizes the process of communication in terms of space and time, i.e., as a continuous process of meaningful spatiotemporal transformation. He goes on to examine four fundamental transformations and the four theoretical perspectives on the nature of communication. From the first perspective communication appears to be 'pure space,' then time comes into play more and more actively, and from the fourth perspective communication appears to be 'pure time.' Following the fourth transformation communication is seen as returning back to the first stage where it again appears as 'pure space;' however, now its reality contains all meanings created in the process of the previous transformations. Based on these four transformations, the process of communication is understood as a universe, meaning 'whole,' 'entire,' 'turned into one.'

For decades, campaign finance reform has been an on-going topic of discussion. In particular, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) was heralded as a major breakthrough in controlling the flow of money into campaigns. Almost immediately, political players found other ways to financially manipulate the new laws. Campaign Finance Reform: The Political Shell Game provides an in-depth look at the history of political campaign finance reform with special emphasis on legislative, FEC, and federal court actions from the 1970s to present. In particular, the authors examine the ways that campaigns and independent groups have sought to make end-runs around existing campaign finance rules. Oftentimes the loopholes they find make a significant impact on an election, sparking the next round of campaign finance reform. New rules are then enacted, and new loopholes are found. Like a big political shell game, the amount of money in politics never actually decreases, but instead gets moved around from one organization to another.

Communicator-in-Chief examines the role of new media technologies such as e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, blogs, video games, texting and the Internet in the historic 2008 presidential campaign. Politicians of the twenty-first century will use the Obama campaign's new media technology strategy to not only communicate with the electorate, but also raise money and motivate voters to go to the polling places on election day.

Cracked But Not Shattered thoroughly analyzes Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination with an eye to identifying what went wrong-why, the frontrunner, she ended up not breaking 'the glass ceiling.' Although her communication was flawed and the media coverage of her did reflect biases, these essays demonstrate how her campaign was in trouble from the start because of her gender, status as a former First Lady, and being half of a political couple.

Jason A. Edwards explores the various rhetorical choices and strategies employed by former President Bill Clinton to discuss foreign policy issues in a new, post-Cold War era. Edwards argues that each American president has situated himself within the same foreign policy paradigm, drawing upon the same set of ideas and utilizing the same basic vernacular to discuss foreign policy. He describes how former presidents-and President Clinton, in particular-made modifications to this paradigm, leaving a rhetorical signature that tells us as much about the nature of their presidency as it does about the international environment they faced. With the end of the Cold War came the end of a relatively stable international order. This end sparked intense debates about the new direction of American foreign policy. As Bill Clinton took office, he developed a new lexicon of words in order to discuss America's changing role in the world and other major international issues of the time without being able to fall into Cold War-era rhetoric. By examining the nuances and unique contributions President Clinton made to American foreign policy rhetoric, Edwards shows how his distinct rhetorical signature will influence future administrations.