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'Do Campaigns Matter?' by Thomas M. Holbrook is reviewed.

Reflects on the life & work of Irving Howe (founding Editor of Dissent) in the course of discussing several issues -- the achievements of literary modernism, the shortcomings of postmodernism, & the need to eschew movements based on grand theories in favor of campaigns that directly & pragmatically address pressing issues. It is suggested that Howe made Dissent into a magazine that was more concerned about real-world exploitation & repression than with transcendental questions about the spirit of the age, & that the magazine remains one of the few leftist forums where fighting for injustice is privileged over the literary maneuvering for strategic position in intellectual or political circles. W. Howard

During the important political year 1928 no fewer than five separate congressional committees were engaged in investigating various phases of the problem of campaign funds. First, the Reed committee, which was appointed by resolution of the 69th Congress to investigate the elections of 1926, was continued in existence so that it could wind up its work. In addition, it was given authority by a new resolution of the 70th Congress to investigate the New Jersey senatorial primary of 1928. Second, the committee on privileges and elections of the Senate was authorized to hear and determine the Wilson-Vare election contest in Pennsylvania. A sub-committee, with Senator Waterman as chairman, was selected on January 27 to perform this task. Third, the Senate created a special committee to investigate pre-convention and election expenditures in the campaign of 1928. Senator Steiwer was appointed chairman of this committee. Fourth, a special House committee was appointed on the day before the close of the session to look into the campaign expenditures of 1928, with Congressman Lehlbach of New Jersey as chairman. Finally, the Senate by resolution authorized the committee on post offices and post roads, or any sub-committee thereof, to investigate the alleged sale of Southern postmasterships, and Senator Brookhart was appointed chairman of the sub-committee.The Reed committee held hearings in April and May in connection with the Wilson-Vare contest in Pennsylvania, and in June in connection with the New Jersey senatorial primary. These investigations did not lead to any particularly valuable disclosures, although they produced some interesting and enlightening information about the Vare machine.

In Election 2004, campaign Weblogs—or blogs—became a standard feature of campaign Web sites. Monitoring the adaptation of emergent technological tools into political communication assists future generations of scholars to understand the genesis of communication applications and explore future uses. Blogs are online diaries where information is electronically posted, updated frequently, and presented in reverse chronological order. Three concourses of research provide insight into blogging as a political communication function: the investigation of the blog as a social diary, the analysis of blogs as organizing tools, and blogs viewed as a form of civic, participatory journalism. The authors do not claim that blogging had a significant impact on the 2004 election outcome. However, they do argue that its effective use has been demonstrated and emerging applications of the tool pave the way for future campaign communication, one the authors suggest will become a standard part of campaign communication.

We present a model of two‐candidate elections in which candidates are office‐motivated, campaigning is voluntary and costly, and one candidate has a valence advantage. In equilibrium, the order of campaign announcements matters: Each candidate would prefer to announce his or her position after the other candidate has announced his or hers. The fundamental predictions of the model are (1) the impact of valence and campaigning costs on candidates' equilibrium behaviors is in general ambiguous, requiring further specification of the details of the electoral situation, and (2) in general, equilibrium platform announcements are essentially independent of the location of the median voter's ideal point. In addition, the model is consistent with elections in which both, only one, or neither candidate actively campaigns, and, finally, even when one candidate has a large valence advantage, there might be no equilibrium in which he or she will win the election with certainty.

A photographic record of federal ghost campaigns and federal election campaigns from 1971 to 2007