Politainment: The Ten Rules of Contemporary Politics: A citizens’ guide to understanding campaigns and elections

The world of politics, campaigns, and elections is confusing. How do we make sense out of why candidates do what they do or why some are successful and others not? This book explains political campaigns and elections by way of ten simple rules that candidates need to follow if they wish to be successful. Mastering and understanding these rules makes clear what it takes to win in politics and why politicians do what they do and why politics is what it is today. The key to understanding contemporary politics begins with two simple concepts. The first is that it is the world of politainment where politics and entertainment had collapsed into one another, producing a new world of politainment (politics + entertainment). A second concept to understand about contemporary politics is that it is a business. The day of politics and political campaigns being run by dedicated volunteers is an artifact of a Norman Rockwell era. While once politics was about door knocking, phone calling, and face to face politicking. Now campaigns are run by professionals. Individuals specialize in managing campaigns and candidates, doing polling, fund-raising, and performing many of the tasks that once were done by dedicated volunteers. Yes many campaigns still have volunteers performing many duties–especially in local and small town races–but even then professionals and organizations are increasingly employed to shape a campaign. Politainment: The Ten Rules of Contemporary Politics makes sense out of the confusing world of politainment, describing the ten rules critical to winning politics.