Stand by to stand by, y'all - You're gonna get it again

Three political spots by OnMessage, Inc., the agency that put 691 Republicans in legislative seats and delivered 21 majorities in the 2010 elections.






"New Labour's victory in 1997 was widely regarded as a textbook triumph
of packaging over politics, spin over substance, and image-building
over ideology. This conventional explanation accords with an expanding
literature which emphasizes the growing importance of political
marketing, spin doctors and sound -bites, and the rise in the power of
the news media as 'king-makers' in Britain as well as in many other
countries (Franklin 1994; Kavanagh 1995; Scammell 1995; Jones 1995).

"The first concern of this book is therefore to establish how far
strategic communications are important today for electoral success. In
particular, did Labour's communication strategy prove the most
effective, as widely assumed, in the 1997 British general election?

"Were Labour most successful in influencing the news agenda? And as a
result did they boost their party fortunes during the long and short
campaign? Our answers, contrary to the conventional wisdom, are no, no
and no. Insights into this issue help us to understand the process of
strategic communications and its limitations in the modern campaign.

"Equally important, many observers have emphasised the rise in the power
of the mass media and their growing influence, for good or ill, in
election campaigns. Some hope that television and the press can help
to mobilise and energize voters, generate effective public deliberation
which informs citizens, and produce 'enlightened preferences' (Gelman
and King 1993; Lupia and McCubbins 1998). Others fear that predominant
news values and journalistic practices lead to campaign coverage..."