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Political consulting is a form of
consulting A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...
that consists primarily of advising and assisting
political campaigns A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referend ...
. Although the most important role of political consultants is arguably the development and production of mass media (largely television and direct mail), consultants advise campaigns on many other activities, ranging from
opposition research In politics, opposition research (also called oppo research) is the practice of collecting information on a political opponent or other adversary that can be used to discredit or otherwise weaken them. The information can include biographical, leg ...
and voter polling, to field
strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " ar ...
and
get out the vote "Get out the vote" or "getting out the vote" (GOTV) describes efforts aimed at increasing the voter turnout in elections. In countries that do not have or enforce compulsory voting, voter turnout can be low, sometimes even below a third of the ...
efforts.


Origins

President
William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
's closest political adviser Mark Hanna is sometimes described as the first political consultant.
Whitaker and Baxter Clem Whitaker and Leone Baxter were a husband-and-wife team that started Campaigns, Inc., the first political consulting firm in the United States. Based in California, the firm worked on a variety of political issues, mostly for Republican Party ...
established the first true political consulting firm, Campaigns, Inc., which focused exclusively on
political campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracy, democracies, political campaigns often refer to election, electoral campaigns, by which representatives a ...
s in California in the 1930s - 1950s. However, political consulting blossomed with the increasing use of television advertising for campaign communications in the 1960s.
Joseph Napolitan Joseph Napolitan (March 6, 1929 – December 2, 2013) was an American political consultant, who worked as a general consultant on over 100 political campaigns in the United States, and many others throughout the world. Napolitan served on the ...
was the first person to describe himself as a political consultant; The New York Times described him in a 1968 profile as ''"that newest American phenomenon, the professional campaign manager"'' and ''a "pioneering campaign consultant"''. In recent years, political consulting has become more commonplace throughout the world and has extended its reach to campaigns at all levels of government. Many consultants work not only for campaigns, but also for parties and political action committees, while some focus on public relations and research work. Many consultants also take up official positions inside Governments while working for a ruling party candidate.


Nature of the work

Political consultants sometimes act as political strategists, a senior political consultant who promote the election of certain
candidate A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * ...
s or the interests of certain groups. This is achieved by planning campaign
strategies Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " ar ...
, coordinating campaign staffers, and arranging events to publicize candidates or causes. Political consultants act as public relations specialists, salespeople and managers. By using many forms of
marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to empha ...
-suitable media, including
advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
and press releases, the general goal of political consultants is to make voters aware of their candidates' party platform. As political consulting has expanded worldwide, journalists have noted the influence of political consulting on candidates, voters, presidents and governments of different nations. Well-known
American political consultants American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
such as James Carville,
Joseph Napolitan Joseph Napolitan (March 6, 1929 – December 2, 2013) was an American political consultant, who worked as a general consultant on over 100 political campaigns in the United States, and many others throughout the world. Napolitan served on the ...
and David H. Sayers, have traveled to other
continent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...
s, acting as consultants on several political campaigns and advising heads of state. For example, Napolitan acted as a consultant of French President Válery Giscard d’Estaing, several Venezuelan presidents, and Costa Rica’s Óscar Arias Sánchez, and
Dick Morris Richard Samuel Morris (born November 28, 1948) is an American political author and commentator who previously worked as a pollster, political campaign consultant, and general political consultant. A friend and advisor to Bill Clinton during hi ...
''"has consulted for candidates in other countries of the western hemisphere, including the campaigns of
Fernando de la Rua Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...
for President of Argentina,
Jorge Batlle Jorge Luis Batlle Ibáñez (; ''Batlle'' locally or ; 25 October 1927 – 24 October 2016) was a Uruguayan politician and lawyer, and a member of the Colorado Party. He served as the President of Uruguay from 2000 to 2005. Dr. Jorge Batlle b ...
for President of Uruguay,
Vicente Fox Vicente Fox Quesada (; born 2 July 1942) is a Mexican businessman and politician who served as the 62nd president of Mexico from 1 December 2000 to 30 November 2006. After campaigning as a right-wing populist, Fox was elected president on the ...
for President of Mexico, and
Raphael Trotman Raphael Trotman (born 1966) is a Guyanese lawyer and politician. He was the Speaker of the National Assembly of Guyana from 2011 to 2015. He was the country's Minister for Natural Resources from 2015 to 2020. A former executive member of the ...
for President of Guyana."'' Many Latin American political consultants have also led
political campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracy, democracies, political campaigns often refer to election, electoral campaigns, by which representatives a ...
s outside of their native countries. One such example is Brazilian political consultant João Santana, who simultaneously led three winning presidential campaigns in Latin America:
Danilo Medina Danilo Medina Sánchez ( : born 10 November 1951) is a People of the Dominican Republic, Dominican Politics of the Dominican Republic, politician who was President of the Dominican Republic from 2012 to 2020. Medina previously served as Chief ...
, in the Dominican Republic;
Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...
, in Venezuela; and
José Eduardo dos Santos José Eduardo dos Santos (; 28 August 1942 – 8 July 2022) was the president of Angola from 1979 to 2017. As president, dos Santos was also the commander-in-chief of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) and president of the People's Movement for t ...
, in
Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...
, in the African continent. Venezuelan political strategist JJ Rendon (who lives in United States), has also been recognized internationally, having been ranked as one of the top five most prominent Latin American consultants by the U.S.-based publication '' Campaigns & Elections'' (Latin American edition) and who was the 2014 winner o
The Victory Awards
for his work as the lead strategist of successful presidential campaigns of
Juan Manuel Santos Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (; born 10 August 1951) is a Colombian politician who was the President of Colombia from 2010 to 2018. He was the sole recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. An economist by profession and a journalist by trade ...
in Colombia (including his reelection campaign in 2014),
Porfirio Lobo Porfirio Lobo Sosa (born 22 December 1947), known as Pepe Lobo, is a Honduran politician and agricultural landowner who served as President of Honduras from 2010 to 2014. A member of the conservative National Party and a former deputy in the ...
and Juan Orlando Hernández in Honduras and
Enrique Peña Nieto Enrique Peña Nieto (; born 20 July 1966), commonly referred to by his initials EPN, is a Mexican politician who served as the 64th president of Mexico from 1 December 2012 to 30 November 2018. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party ...
in Mexico, among others. João Santana has been described by the news magazine
Veja Veja may refer to : Places * Veja, a town in Lazio, central Italy; now Vejano comune * Veja, a village in Stănița Commune, Neamț County, Romania * Veja River, Romania * Veja State, a former princely state in present Gujarat, western India Pe ...
as ''"capable of mapping out the weaknesses of adversaries with an acupuncturist’s precision."'' Rendon has been described by Miami New Times as the ''"Latin America's Karl Rove"''.


Criticisms


Scandals

As political consulting has become more prevalent, consultants have become subject to increasing scrutiny and involvement in
spotlight scandals ''Spotlight Scandals'' or ''Spotlight Revue'' is a 1943 American musical comedy film directed by William Beaudine. It was the first of a four-picture contract comic actor Billy Gilbert signed with Monogram Pictures. Butch and Buddy, the team who ...
as journalists have devoted considerable attention to their activities. Some successful political consultants, such as James Carville and Newt Gingrich, capitalize on their consulting fame to become professional
pundits A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport). Origins The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...
. Such political consultants routinely appear on television news programs, write books and are treated as social media celebrities. Some detractors accuse political consultants of putting their own interests and images ahead of their clients. Some consultants allege that too many consultants put their own financial interests ahead of the campaigns they are hired to serve, take on too many clients, or focus too much energy on building their own reputations.


Criticism

Critics of the political consulting industry blame consultants for what they see as problems in the American election system. * Consultant salaries have risen, which has increased the cost of political campaigns. * ''"Critics of consulting's influence on politics say that changes to the campaign landscape have further entrenched certain consultants, regardless of their track records".'' * Political consultants may be opposed to low-budget campaigns of grassroots candidates. * Activist groups charge that political consultants are a major obstacle to participatory democracy and election reform.


Social media in modern campaigns

Social media has dramatically changed the way in which modern
political campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracy, democracies, political campaigns often refer to election, electoral campaigns, by which representatives a ...
s are run. With younger and more tech-savvy citizens entering into the voting population, social media are the platforms on which the politicians need to establish themselves and engage with the public. In years to come, social media is anticipated to overtake traditional media in terms of importance to political campaigns. For example, in Australia 86% of Australians access the Internet, and with a 17,048,864 voting age population (according to IDEA), around 14,662,023 voting population has access to Internet, and 65% of them use social media, which means 9,530,314 Australian voters use social media (The 2013 Yellow™ Social Media Report found that among internet users 65% of Australians use social media, up from 62% last year). The implication of this for political consulting is that social media are the channels through which an increasingly larger portion of the population receives political messages. As a consequence, unless a political consultant addresses the part of the electorate which can preferentially be reached through social media, the portion of the electorate which will be reached through traditional communication technologies will increasingly shrink in the future. For instance, social media is already the main source of information for 26% of young voters in Spain.


Trade organizations

The
American Association of Political Consultants The American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) is the trade group for the political consulting profession in the United States. Founded in 1969, it is the world's largest organization of political consultants, public affairs profession ...
is the major trade association for political consultants in the United States, with thousands of members. Like other professional organizations, it propagates a code of ethics and gives out
award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An awar ...
s. Similar organizations for political consultants exist for many other countries and regions.


See also

*
Campaign manager {{Political campaigning A campaign manager, campaign chairman, or campaign director is a paid or volunteer individual whose role is to coordinate a political campaign's operations such as fundraising, advertising, polling, getting out the vote (w ...
* '' Campaigns & Elections'', a trade magazine covering political consulting * '' Just How Stupid Are We?'' * Political campaign staff


References


Further reading

* Sabato, Larry J. ''The Rise of Political Consultants''. New York: Basic Books, 1981. xvi, 376 p. * Wesslau, Fredrik
''The Political Adviser's Handbook''
2013,


External links

{{Authority control *