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Americans have a love-hate relationship with negative campaigning, claiming to despise it and ranting about how it turns off the electorate, while at the same time paying an increasing amount of attention to negative ads and tactics during ever-lengthening campaign seasons. Swint gathers the most compelling of these campaigns from the two Golden Ages of negative campaigning-1864 to 1892 and 1988 to the present-in addition to some that fall outside those demarcations, and ranks them in descending order, from No. 25 to No. 1.
Mudslingers covers presidential, senatorial, gubernatorial, and mayoral races and chronicles the dirtiest, most low-down campaign tactics of all time.
The list includes the presidential campaign of 1800, when the disputed outcome of the race between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had to be decided by the House of Representatives, and the election of 2004, in which George W. Bush beat John Kerry after one of the nastiest showdowns on record. The first round of negative campaigning in American history was driven by post-Civil War politics, the end of Reconstruction, an increasingly corrupt federal government, and a rabid partisan press. The current Golden Age of mudslinging and dirty politics is driven by huge increases in campaign spending, television advertising, decreased civility in public life, and a muckraking mass media. These fascinating stories from the annals of negative campaigning will entertain as well as educate, reminding us, the next time we are tempted to decry the current climate, that it was (almost) ever thus.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Dedication
Prologue
25. "From Vietnam to Iraq" George W. Bush v. John Kerry, President, 2004
24. "It's a Jungle Out There" Upton Sinclair v. Frank Merriam, Governor, California, 1934
23. "'Senator Pothole' v. 'Putzhead'" Alphonse D'Amato v. Charles Schumer, U.S. Senate, New York, 1998
22. "Electronic Mudslinging" Lyndon Johnson v. Barry Goldwater, President, 1964
21. "The Art of War"
Jesse Helms v. Harvey Gantt, U.S. Senate, North Carolina, 1990
20. "Homo Sapiens, Thespians, and Extroverts" Claude Pepper v. George Smathers, U.S. Senate, Florida, 1950
19. "Vote for the Crook: It's Important" Edwin Edwards v. David Duke, Governor, Louisiana, 1991
18. "Who's the Boss?" Richard Daley v. Robert Merriam, Mayor, Chicago 1955
17. "Polluting the Garden State" Frank Lautenberg v. Pete Dawkins, U.S. Senate, New Jersey, 1988
16. "God Save the Republic.Please" Rutherford Hayes v. Samuel Tilden, President, 1876
15. "Rudy and the Jets" Rudolf Giuliani v. David Dinkins, Mayor, New York City, 1993
14. "A New Jersey Street Fight" Robert Torricelli v. Richard Zimmer, U.S. Senate, New Jersey, 1996
13. "In This Corner.Little Lord Fauntleroy?" John Tower v. Robert Krueger, U.S. Senate, Texas, 1978
12. "Sex, Lies and Videotape" Charles Robb v. Oliver North, U.S. Senate, 1994
11. "'Claytie' v. The Lady" Clayton Williams v. Ann Richards, Governor, Texas, 1990
10. "Richard Nixon v. The United States of America" Richard Nixon v. Goerge McGovern, President, 1972
9. "Bye-Bye Blackbird" Herold Washington v. Bernard Epton, Mayor, Chicago, 1983
8. "America, Meet Willie Horton" George H. W. Bush v. Michael Dukakis, President, 1988
7. "'Tricky Dick' v. Helen Gahagan Douglas," U.S. Senate, California, 1950
6. "Grantism and Mr. Greeley" Ulysses S. Grant v. Horace Greely, President, 1872
5. "The First Campaign" Thomas Jefferson v. John Adams, 1800
4. "A House Divided" Abraham Lincoln v. George Mclellan, President, 1864
3. "Mud, Mugwumps, and Motherhood" Grover Cleverland v. James G. Blaine, President, 1884
2. "The Dirtiest Campaign in American History?" Andrew Jackson v. John Quincy Adams, President, 1828
1. "George Wallace and the Negro Block Vote" George Wallace v. Albert Brewer, Governor, Alabama 1970
Epilogue
Bibliography
About the author
Kerwin C. Swint is Associate Professor of Political Science at Kennesaw State University, a former campaign consultant, and a political commentator for local and national media. He is the author of
Political Consultants and Negative Campaigning: The Secrets of the Pros (1998).
Summary
Americans have a love-hate relationship with negative campaigning, claiming to despise it and ranting about how it turns off the electorate, while at the same time paying an increasing amount of attention to negative ads and tactics during ever-lengthening campaign seasons.
