Presidential campaigns are our national conversations - the widespread and complex communication of issues, images, social reality, and personas. Political communication specialists break down the 2012 presidential campaign and go beyond the quantitative facts, electoral counts, and poll results of the election, to make sense of the "political bits" of communication that comprise our voting choices. The contributors look at the early campaign period, the nomination process and conventions, the social and political contexts, the debates, the role of candidate spouses, candidate strategies, political strategies, and the use of the Internet and other technologies.

PrefaceChapter 1: The Presidential Nominating Conventions and the American Dream: Narrative Unity and Political Division. Rachel HollowayChapter 2: Change in the Communication Demands of Spouses in the 2012 Nominating Convention, Gwen BrownChapter 3: Presidential Debates 2012, Ben VothChapter 4: "His to Lose": Strategic Keys to Challenging the Incumbent in 2012, Craig Allen SmithChapter 5: Political Advertising in the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election, John C. Tedesco & Scott W. DunnChapter 6: "Death by Taxes": A Post-mortem on Romney's Tax Return Apologia, Joseph M. Valenzano III & Jason A. EdwardsChapter 7: Presidential Campaigns as Cultural Events: The Convergence of Politics and Popular Culture in Election 2012, Jeffrey P. JonesChapter 8: The New Media Campaign of 2012, John Allen HendricksChapter 9: Explaining the Vote in the Election of 2008: Obama's Re-election, Henry C. Kenski & Kate M. KenskiIndexAbout the Contributors