Studies of Communication in the 2012 Presidential Campaign

Robert E. Denton, Jr. holds the W. Thomas Rice chair of leadership studies in the Pamplin College of Business and is professor in the Department of Communication at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

• PrefaceRobert E. Denton Jr.Chapter 1: The Early Campaign of 2012Judith S. TrentChapter 2: Mitt Romney and the 2012 Presidential NominationHenry C. Kenski and Kate M. KenskiChapter 3: “Persona” in the 2012 Presidential CampaignDennis D. CaliChapter 4: The Rhetoric of a Campaigning First LadyTheodore F. SheckelsChapter 5: First Ladies and Presidential Advising: Ann Romney, Hilary Rosen, and the 2012 Presidential CampaignMelody J. LehnChapter 6: Political Propheteering: The Role of Purity in the 2012 Presidential Nomination AddressesBrian Heslop and Patrick S. LoebsChapter 7: Informed and Undecided: Persuasive Appeals to Noncommittal VotersRita Kirk and Dan SchillChapter 8: The Honeymoon is over! Rhetoric, Shared Identity, and the Symbolic Communication of Race in the 2012 Obama CampaignZoe SpencerChapter 9: Music as Rhetoric: Music in the 2012 Presidential CampaignDavid R. Dewberry andJonathan H. MillenChapter 10: Candidates Use of Social Network Sites to Control their Campaign MessageStephanie E. BorChapter 11: This One is Not Like the Others: President Obama’s Genre-bending Second InauguralJoseph Valenzano III

The scholars contributing to Studies of Communication in the 2012 Presidential Campaign thoroughly examine each topic, providing the reader with solid history, context, and analysis. Indeed, nontraditional topics, such as campaigning and advising by first ladies, political profiteering, and the skillful treatment of race in the 2012 Obama campaign, all entice the reader to delve deeper into the text. Thus, this must-read text is insightful and challenges all readers to consider carefully the impact of communication in political campaigns.