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political advertising



  • The Ongoing Legacy of Direct-Mail Grievance Politics

    by L. Benjamin Rolsky

    By privatizing political discourse, the pioneers of direct mail advertising could solicit funds at the same time as they stoked the fears of a targeted set of voters; this worked to bring the religious right into the heart of the Republican Party. 



  • A Glimmer of Hope for Trump? How Bush Mounted a Comeback in 1988

    It will surprise no one if Trump pursues the sort of negative race-baiting campaign that George H.W. Bush used to rally after trailing Michael Dukakis in the summer. What remains to be seen will be if Trump can convincingly portray Biden as a greater danger to the public. 



  • How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future

    by Jill Lepore

    Modern political campaigning can trace its origins to the desperation of the Democratic Party to target voters outside of its traditional stronghold in the South by targeting precise segments of the national electorate.



  • Leave Lincoln Out of It

    Andrew Ferguson argues that the Lincoln Project's anti-Trump ads follow Abe Lincoln's lead in one respect: they echo the young Lincoln's talent for partisan attacks and inflammatory rhetoric. They inflame and agitate, but don't persuade.