Experts and academics meet at Vanderbilt presidential campaign conference

Posted 4/22/2008

Princeton’s Tali Mendelberg and Tasha Philpot of the University of Texas-Austin talk with Distinguished Professor of Political Science John Geer during a conference break. Mendelberg and Philpot were among the panelists for “The Media, Race and Coverage of Campaigns.

Prominent journalists, political scientists and campaign consultants came to campus April 18 and 19 to share collective insights on what is shaping up to be one of the most unpredictable presidential campaigns in recent history. “Unconventional Wisdom in the 2008 Presidential Campaign” was hosted by Distinguished Professor of Political Science John Geer and the Department of Political Science with support from Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos.

“We brought together real-world consultants from the Democratic and Republican parties, journalists who cover the campaigns and academics from around the country to converse on the same panels,” Geer said. “One goal was to find out why the conventional wisdom about presidential campaigns has not rung true this year.”

Issues during the two-day conference at Buttrick Hall ranged from the effectiveness of political advertising, including negative ads, to the role of polls and the media’s coverage of the campaign so far. In addition, the media’s handling of race and gender issues and lessons to be applied for the fall general campaign were on the agenda.

Among the reasons cited for the presidential campaign becoming more unpredictable is the growing influence of the Internet. Some panelists said that the rapid transfer of information over the Web has caused some voters to rapidly change their candidate preferences, affecting the reliability of polls. While the campaign consultants who were in attendance said they placed a high priority on effective political advertising, political scientists said their research showed that the persuasive power of these ads was short lived.

Participating journalists included Dan Baltz, The Washington Post; Jackie Calmes, The Wall Street Journal; Alan Elsner, Reuters; and Bill Nichols and David Mark of Politico. Academics who spoke included Larry Bartels, Princeton; Simon Jackman, Stanford; Lynn Vavreck, UCLA; and Ken Goldstein, University of Wisconsin at Madison. Vin Weber, who was an adviser to Mitt Romney’s campaign, Democratic strategist Tad Devine, and Chip Saltsman, manager of the Huckabee campaign, provided real-world information during the discussions.

Most panelists agreed that the Democratic nomination process is likely to continue past the Pennsylvania primary. Another general expectation is that the general election will be extremely close – regardless of whether Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton faces John McCain in the fall.

Contact: Ann Marie Deer Owens, (615) 322-NEWS
Annmarie.owens@vanderbilt.edu

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