Title: The invisible hands of political parties in presidential elections : party activists and political aggregation from 2004 to 2012 /
Authors: Dowdle, Andrew,; Limbocker, Scott,; Yang, Song, 1971-; Sebold, Karen,; Stewart, Patrick A., 1966-
Year: 2013
Subjects: Campaign funds United States; Political parties United States; Presidents United States Election Finance.; Primaries United States Finance.; Political activists United States; Political participation United States; Political parties United States History; Presidents United States Election; Presidents United States Election; Presidents United States Election; Elections & referenda United States of America, USA; Elections & referenda USA; Political activism United States of America, USA; Political activism USA; Political activists; Political participation; Political parties United States of America, USA; Political parties USA; Political parties; POLITICAL SCIENCE Political Process Political Parties.; Politics and Government.; Politics and Government.; Presidents Election
Abstract: One of the truisms in American politics has been that "divisive" primaries hurt the party's prospects of winning the presidency in the general election. However, traditional definitions of divisive primaries focus too much on candidate behavior and not enough on the actual divisions and fractures within a party. The Invisible Hands of Political Parties in Presidential Elections proposes a new measure of party cohesion that instead looks at individual donors who are willing to contribute to multiple candidates during the early stages of the presidential primaries. The authors of this collection reveal how these preprimary donor networks can serve as an accurate barometer of party unity, providing a significant perspective on the changing roles of political parties in American government today -- P. 4 of cover.
Contents: 1. Why contested primaries may not be divisive primaries -- 2. Refining (and redefining) the party -- 3. Multiple donors and the party as a network -- 4. Multiple donor networks begin to shed light on the nomination process: the 2004 democratic nomination process -- 5. A tale of two networks: the 2008 nomination process -- 6. A "not-Romney" explanation: the 2012 republican nomination process -- 7. Multiple donors and their place in the partisan universe -- Appendix A: Geographic patterns of contributions to presidential campaigns - the case of the 2008 and 2012 presidential nominations -- Appendix B: Fundamentals in social network analysis - theories and methods -- Appendix C: Matrices of shared donors during preprimaries.