Building a business of politics the rise of political consulting and the transformation of American

297 Pages·2016·1.49 MB·English

by  Sheingate, Adam D

Building a Business
of Politics
Q
STUDIES IN POSTWAR AMERICAN POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
Steven Teles, Series Editor
Series Board Members
Jennifer Hochschild
Desmond King
Sanford Levinson
Taeku Lee
Shep Melnick
Paul Pierson
John Skrentny
Adam Sheingate
Reva Siegel
Tomas Sugrue
Te Delegated Welfare State: Medicare, Markets, and the Governance of Social Policy
Kimberly J. Morgan and Andrea Louise Campbell
Rule and Ruin: Te Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican
Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party
Geofrey Kabaservice
Engines of Change: Party Factions in American Politics, 1868–2010
Daniel DiSalvo
Follow the Money: How Foundation Dollars Change Public School Politics
Sarah Reckhow
Te Allure of Order: High Hopes, Dashed Expectations, and the Troubled Quest to
Remake American Schooling
Jal Mehta
Rich People’s Movements: Grassroots Campaigns to Untax the One Percent
Isaac William Martin
Te Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility
Jefrey M. Berry and Sarah Sobieraj
Artists of the Possible: Governing Networks and American Policy since 1945
Matt Grossmann
Building the Federal Schoolhouse: Localism and the American Education State
Douglas S. Reed
Te First Civil Right: Race and the Rise of the Carceral State
Naomi Murakawa
How Policy Shapes Politics: Rights, Courts, Litigation, and the Struggle over Injury
Compensation
Jeb Barnes and Tomas F. Burke
Ideas with Consequences: Te Federalist Society and the Conservative Counterrevolution
Amanda Hollis-Brusky
No Day in Court: Access to Justice and the Politics of Judicial Retrenchment
Sarah Staszak
Te Business of America is Lobbying: How Corporations Became Politicized
and Politics Became More Corporate
Lee Drutman
Building
a Business
of Politics
THE RISE OFQ POLITICAL CONSULTING
AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF
AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
Adam Sheingate
1
1

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of
Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research,
scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trademark
of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by
Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America
© Oxford University Press 2016
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior
permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law,
by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization.
Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the
Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sheingate, Adam D., 1969– author.
Building a business of politics : the rise of political consulting and the transformation
of American democracy / Adam Sheingate.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–021719–8 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978–0–19–021720–4
(ebook) 1. Political consultants—United States. 2. Democracy—United States.
3. United States—Politics and government. I. Title.
JK2281.S498 2016
324.0973—dc23
2015025441
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
For Leo and Lila
As you wish
Contents
Q

Preface ix

1. Te Business of Politics 1

2. Publicity and the Public 13

3. Professional Propaganda 39

4 . Te Art and Science of Politics 66

5. A Business Takes Shape 102

6 . Advertising Politics 134

7 . Te Consolidation of Control 153

8. Te Business of Digital Politics 182

9 . Te Evolution of Political Work 200

Appendix: Estimating the Size of the Political Consulting Industry 219

Notes 225

Index 277
vii
P refaCe
Q
My interest in the political consulting industry began in 2005 as
I was writing an essay on political entrepreneurship in American poli-
tics. Political consultants, it seemed to me, were political entrepreneurs
in two senses. Consultants were literally entrepreneurs in the sense that
they were engaged in a speculative search for proft. After all, political
consulting is a business. In a second sense, however, political consul-
tants were entrepreneurial as they creatively combined scientifc poll-
ing, artful media, and local political knowledge into winning campaign
messages and strategies.
Moreover, the business of political consulting struck me as emblem-
atic of an increasingly entrepreneurial style in American politics. Over
the past century, presidents, individual members of Congress, and a
myriad of organizations and interests have pursued opportunities that
expand their scope for independent action. Political consultants are
central to this process as well, whether helping in the pursuit of a White
House agenda, nurturing a congressional career, or carving out a niche
within the panoply of Washington groups. If the entrepreneurial pur-
suit of political advantage is now a characteristic feature of our politics,
I began to wonder how political consulting became a business and how
the business of consulting contributed to a broader transformation in
American democracy.
ix