Special Elections

Special elections are a significant point of entry into the U.S. Congress. These electoral contests are not numerous, and their occurrence is largely random. They have attracted extraordinary attention from the national parties, political consultants, and the media when control of the House of Representatives is up for grabs in every regular election. Perhaps never have special elections drawn as much attention as during the first two years of the Trump presidency. This volume provides a detailed case study of the most expensive special House election ever conducted augmented with mini-cases exploring the other competitive special elections held during the first two years of the Trump era. These case studies are placed in the context of quantitative analyses of the almost three hundred House special elections held since World War II. Bullock and Owen find the factors associated with success in special elections are similar to those that help incumbents win term after term. They show that the party identification of the previous incumbent correlates strongly with the special election outcomes. Moreover, this volume explores whether the performance of the president’s party in special elections predicts the fortunes of the president’s party in the next general election. It finds that the numbers of losses by the president’s party or takeaways from the opposition is significantly related to the next election results. This work highlights not only the unique context and outcomes of special elections, but also their important role in shaping who enters, leads, and controls Congress.

ABOUT THE ACTIVITIES OF THE “UNITED RUSSIA” PARTY DURING THE PANDEMIC: ANALYSIS OF ORGANIZATIONAL PRACTICES

This article examines the organizational practices of the ruling party “United Russia” in the new conditions set by the current epidemiological situation in the Russian Federation related to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The factors that influenced the operational reorganization of the party structures of “United Russia” and its effective functioning during the period of selfisolation and quarantine restrictions in the Russian Federation in the spring-summer of 2020 and the growth of the party's electoral rating on the eve of the Single voting day on September 13 are analyzed. The key factors that determined this reorganization are the digitalization of party structures, interaction with near-party public associations, civil activists, ensuring communication with civil society, as well as ensuring conditions for the productive work of the party apparatus. Features of introduction of innovations in management of the ruling party allowing to provide recruitment of new functionaries and supporters, creation of personnel party elevators are revealed. In the study, official information resources EP, media materials, data of public and expert surveys, conclusions regarding the productivity model transformation of party structures in voluntary charity, the positive impact of this reorganization on the processes of building the party "United Russia". The study of these organizational practices is significant both for representatives of the academic community and for practicing political strategists and political consultants.

STRATEGI PENCITRAAN PARTAI DEMOKRAT WILAYAH KOTA BANJARMASIN SAAT PEMILU TAHUN 2019

The Democratic Party in the 2004 General Elections entered the top five political parties with the highest electability in Indonesia. This party's victory was not only achieved at the central level but also the regional level. The party's positive trend continued into the 2009 elections. The Democratic Party experienced a significant decline in votes in 2014 due to the issue of corruption. The decline in votes has certainly had an impact on the preparation of the Democratic Party in the 2019 elections. The Democratic Party must prepare an appropriate political winning strategy, both at the central and regional levels. This study aims to determine the Democratic Party's imaging strategy in the city of Banjarmasin. This research uses a qualitative method, with a qualitative descriptive approach. The theory used in this study is the theory of empathy. The results showed that there were three imaging strategies carried out by the Democratic Party, namely imaging through the management of issues, through consulting services, and mass media. This imaging strategy is managed for the 2019 elections. This research generates suggestions that the Democratic Party should utilize issues that can improve the party's image. The Democratic Party should also use the services of political consultants from professional circles to boost the party's positive image. The use of mass media should also not be limited to party leaders, but the level of functionaries.

Interest groups in the European Union and their hiring of political consultancies

Interest groups do not only attempt to influence European legislation by devising and executing their own strategies, or relying on their allies. Almost 50% have also experience in hiring political consultants. Using novel survey data from the policy formulation stage, this study shows that business interest groups are more likely to hire consultancies than non-business interest groups. It suggests that business associations’ higher likelihood of hiring consultancies is linked to membership promotion. For firms, it likely relates to their need for specialised lobbying tools and trust-building measures when seeking private goods from policy-makers. Furthermore, the results indicate that consultancy hiring by business interest groups becomes less likely the more they focus on lobbying. This moderation effect highlights that business interest groups show awareness of principal–agent problems and take mitigating action.

Jokowi's Political Communication Especially Self-Image in 2014 Presidential Election

The purpose of this study is to describe Jokowi's political communications, especially self-image in the 2014. This study uses qualitative research methods that aim to describe what happened to the situation or event in this study and not test hypotheses or make predictions. The advertisement aired in all national electronic mass media with various versions. In print, advertisements are displayed in the form of newspaper headlines. Through semiotic analysis, it can be explained that mental revolution advertisement is dissected based on the meaning of denotation, connotation, mythical study, and ideological study. This mental revolution advertisement tries to construct Jokowi's positive image to the public. In doing so, political consultants (the success teams) try to build political communication through four stages of perception, cognition, motives, and attitudes. This article shows a semiotic analysis to describe the communication techniques of Jokowi.

On the campaign trail

This chapter examines the way parties present themselves – and are presented – to Russia’s electorate during election campaigns. In the first part of the chapter, examination is made of the approaches that the main parties take to campaign strategy and political marketing. There was a gradual professionalisation of the electoral process in the 1990s and early 2000s, with amateur candidates and campaigners gradually being replaced by professional political consultants. The use made of product-, sales- and market-oriented approaches is examined. The second part of the chapter analyses how election campaigns are covered in the media, using content analysis of television and other media coverage. Finally, public attitudes to election campaigning and media usage are assessed, with the aid of post-election surveys from each of the post-Soviet State Duma elections.

Political consultants in Africa will have minor impact

Subject International consulting in Africa Significance Civil society groups accuse foreign advisers and consultancy firms of helping African ruling parties to use divisive strategies to cover up corruption and win elections. International consultants have become a common feature of African elections. Impacts Hiring international companies will drive up the already-rising cost of African election campaigns -- resulting in a vicious circle. As socio-economic development leads to expanding internet penetration, the value and use of data mining and profiling will increase. Civil society organisations and opposition parties will begin to push for the introduction of more effective data protection rules.