Introduction
This chapter provides an overview of key arguments and goals. A key mission of the book is to help scholars of political communication and digital media contextualize and better understand the shifting practices by campaigns long before Barack Obama was a household name. To do so, this study borrows from the work of Robert Denton, looking especially at the political and social context, the organization, fundraising, and image construction of the candidates, as well as factoring in the role of journalists and the hybrid media environment and public opinion polling. I also examine citizen involvement in the campaign. I describe how campaigns’ use of digital communication technologies and the specific affordance of interactivity bring to light that the objective of a campaign is to win—not to fully engage citizens in the campaign. This chapter concludes by providing a brief outline of the book, underscoring the shifting campaign practices that occurred between 1996 and 2016.