The history of the Republican Party shows that the effort of Karl Rove and his Conservative Victory Project and Crossroads political groups to neutralize the Tea Party wing of the GOP likely is doomed, said political pundit William S. Bike.
Bike is the author of the book
Winning Political Campaigns: A Comprehensive Guide to Electoral Success.
"Whereas the Democratic Party seems to evolve its positions over time, the Republican Party has frequently throughout history been taken over by insurgent groups like the Tea Party, with rearguard actions by the ruling elite attempting to hold on to power usually failing," Bike said.
"It seems counter-intuitive, since conservatism usually is not associated with revolution, but that's been the history of the Republican Party," Bike explained.
"The Republicans started out as the liberal, anti-slavery party in the 1850s, but were taken over by the Robber Barons in the 1870s," Bike continued. "The Theodore Roosevelt Progressives had a Republican revolution in the first decade of the 20th Century, but then the corporatists took the GOP over in the 1920s. The Eisenhower internationalists grabbed the party reigns in the 1950s, but then the Goldwater conservatives and the Eisenhower wing fought for control from 1964 to 1980, until the conservatives under Ronald Reagan took over. With even Reaganism not conservative enough for some Republicans in the first decade of the 21st century, the Tea Party movement won a lot of seats in 2010.
"In each case, the old GOP guard was unable to hold on to power—despite having more money like Rove and his groups do," Bike asserted.
Money still can't beat footsoldiers, doorbell ringers, and true believers, and that's what the Tea Party has, Bike noted.
"In
Winning Political Campaigns, I feature information about what the Tea Party did right to seemingly come out of nowhere to grab political power," Bike said. "Tea Partiers and the Rovians who oppose them would do well to be reminded of the lessons available in the book."
More about the Tea Party's political acumen can be found in
Winning Political Campaigns: A Comprehensive Guide to Electoral Success, a how-to e-book providing information on everything a candidate, campaign worker, or activist needs to know to conduct a political race.
Winning Political Campaigns was written by William S. Bike, an award winning journalist, public relations professional, and political pundit who has appeared on many radio and television broadcasts, including CNN. See
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhZYkyRx-C4 Winning Political Campaigns is available on Smashwords at
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/149191 and Amazon.com at
http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Political-Campaigns-Comprehensive-ebook/dp/B007U7C31K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1334443628&sr=8-2 The two previous Denali Press print editions of
Winning Political Campaigns were highly acclaimed. "From a practical, political operations standpoint, it is the best book out, yet," said reviewer Hank Landa of
Political Book Reviews.
Winning Political Campaigns "provides essential tools, practical pointers, and valuable advice about running campaigns successfully," writes Fran Ulmer, former Lieutenant Governor of Alaska.
Covering everything from advertising to building alliances, proper business practices, campaign literature, candidate behavior, media, voter contact, debating, fundraising, strategy, and more,
Winning Political Campaigns is extremely thorough and detailed, yet easy to use. Real-life examples are drawn not only form the political world, but from the worlds of sport, higher education, history, and more.
Innovations by the Tea Party campaigns, the Citizens United Supreme Court decision on fundraising, the Lisa Murkowski write-in campaign for U.S. Senator, new uses for social media and digital advertising in campaigns, and much more state-of-the-science information and campaign innovations that have become part of the scene since the last edition, are included. They make the third edition of
Winning Political Campaigns a must for candidates and staff for campaigns at any level.
Particularly useful are appendices including a sample itinerary for a political event, an event planning checklist, resource organizations expert on various issues, media terms, a sample news release and direct mail piece, and more.
One reason the book is so comprehensive is because few other authors can combine Bike's background of having been a candidate, officeholder, political worker and volunteer, journalist, historian, public relations officer, publications director, government employee, fundraiser, and budget director.
Previous editions of
Winning Political Campaigns have not only been used by campaigns, but as textbooks for college and university courses at Harvard University and other institutions of higher learning.
"At a time when a majority of Americans do not participate in the political process, a process with deep impact on the lives of every American…Bill Bike is waging a campaign for involvement—meaningful involvement," said Congressman Danny K. Davis of Illinois. "
Winning Political Campaigns is designed to enable ordinary citizens to take back their government, to be heard, to win. It is a timely and useful book and we welcome it."
"Let the telegenic beltway pundits propound ponderous theories on the state of democracy in the U.S.," wrote
Booklist magazine. "Chicago communications consultant Bike offers the view from the trenches… Bike offers well-organized, very detailed advice on virtually every subject a candidate's support team should consider…."
For more information, contact Central Park Communications at (773) 229-0024 or
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