No matter how charismatic a candidate may be, it's not the individual who wins the Presidency, it's the team around him or her.That's one of the points political scientist and analyst Sam Popkin makes in his most recent book, The Candidate: What It Takes to Win and Hold the White House. On Tuesday's Up to Date, Popkin talks with Steve Kraske about the advantages a challenger has over an incumbent and the difficulties faced by a vice-president looking to succeed his boss. In examining recent campaigns, they'll uncover the flaws that saw candidates fall by the wayside and strategies that worked to advance the march to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
More Information: Samuel Popkin speaks at the Central Library of the Kansas City Public Library on Tuesday, September 11 at 6:30 p.m. Event details are available here.
Samuel L. Popkin, Ph.D. Samuel L. Popkin is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. He has also been a consulting analyst in presidential campaigns, serving as consultant to the Clinton campaign on polling and strategy, to the CBS News election units from 1983 to 1990 on survey design and analysis, and more recently to the Gore campaign. He has also served as consultant to political parties in Canada and Europe and to the Departments of State and Defense. His most recent book is The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns; earlier he co-authored Issues and Strategies: The Computer Simulation of Presidential Campaigns; and he co-edited Chief of Staff: Twenty-Five Years of Managing the Presidency.
