McCain, Obama, and Clinton and the American Campaign

As the remaining presidential hopefuls maneuver and position themselves to get their parties' nominations, campaign strategy becomes increasingly important.

The past week has seen John McCain all but shore up the Republican nomination while Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton continue to go head to head for the Democratic nomination.

Regardless of your political persuasion or preference of a presidential candidate, much can be learned by  taking a closer look at what James E. Campbell calls the "theory of the predictable campaign," which incorporates the fundamental conditions that systematically affect the presidential vote: political competition, presidential incumbency, and election-year economic conditions.

In The American Campaign: U.S. Presidential Campaigns and the National Vote (Second Edition), Campbell includes updated data and predicting trends through the 2008 campaign, presenting a
readable survey of presidential elections and political scientists' ways of studying them.

To read more about the book, visit http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2007/campbell.htm