Getting the Message Out: Candidate Communication Strategy during the Invisible Primary

This article applies the theory of competitive (war) and substantive (marketing) communication strategies to the presidential nomination campaign, focusing primarily on the time period during which we expect the candidates to be most concerned with framing their campaigns-the invisible primary. We u...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political research quarterly 2002-09, Vol.55 (3), p.633-652
Main Authors: Haynes, Audrey A., Flowers, Julianne F., Gurian, Paul-Henri
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Candidates
Communication
Discourse
Elections
Electoral campaigning
Information dissemination
Marketing
Media
News media
Political Campaigns
Political candidates
Political science
Polls
Presidential candidates
Presidents
Press releases
Primary elections
Republican parties
Rhetoric
Strategic planning
Typology
U.S.A
Viability
Citations: Items that cite this one
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Summary:This article applies the theory of competitive (war) and substantive (marketing) communication strategies to the presidential nomination campaign, focusing primarily on the time period during which we expect the candidates to be most concerned with framing their campaigns-the invisible primary. We utilize candidate press releases to assess the accuracy of this theory and refine it. We then test the hypothesis that a candidate's strategic goals, which are generally defined by the candidate's competitive status relative to the field, determine the dominant type of message communicated during this period. We find that there are definite patterns of messaging choice relative to candidate status. We also find that competitive messages dominate the "discourse" of candidates relative to the news media to a far greater extent than anticipated.
ISSN:1065-9129
DOI:10.2307/3088034