Chapter 7 continues the revisionist approach of chapter 6, but paints the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign on a broader canvas. Through a detailed analysis of key episodes in the mediation of the campaign, the chapter shows how the real-space spectacles of candidate appearances continue to generate the important television, radio, and newspaper coverage that remains so crucial for projecting the power of a candidate and conveying enthusiasm, movement, authenticity, and common purpose to both activists and nonactivists alike. The chapter discusses how these television-fuelled spectacles now also integrate with newer media logics of data-gathering, online fundraising, tracking, monitoring, and managed volunteerism. A major theme running through this chapter is the growing systemic integration of the internet and television in presidential campaigns. It also shows how the hybrid media system can shape electoral outcomes by providing new power resources for campaigns that can create and master the system's modalities.
Local Television Political Advertising and the Manufacturing of Political Reality
