Books about Incumbents from Amazon.com

Courage, commitment, determination, and ego make first-time candidates run...
But what does it take to make them win?

Edward Sidlow's new case study, Challenging the Incumbent: An Underdog's Undertaking, animates the scholarship on congressional elections as it tells an intimate, behind-the-scenes story of the 2000 congressional race in Illinois' 8th district Lance Pressl, a 42-year-old challenger takes on long-time incumbent Phil Crane in a political contest that epitomizes the trials and tribulations confronting those who dare to run against incumbents.

Combining the most recent scholarship on campaigns and elections with an eye-witness account of the day-to-day dynamics of a race, Sidlow documents Pressl's efforts as he tries to win the support and commitment of his core constituents and powerful political allies. The challenges he faces are legion: Will major demographic changes in the district bode well for Pressl, a moderate Democrat running in a well-established Republican stronghold? Will Pressl's well-connected personal contacts bring the dollars so critical to his campaign? Will they attract enough media attention? To whom can he turn for sound strategic advice and support? Balancing key issues in electoral politics with a fascinating David-and-Goliath storyline, Sidlow's study will give students context in which to understand the dynamics--and the vagaries--of House elections..
Price: $12.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Madison “Maddy” Glenn is the controversial mayor of the beautiful tourist town of Santa Rita, California Lisa Truccoli, her friend and treasurer of her last campaign, has been abducted The only thing left at the scene of the crime is a shocking clue—a clue with Maddy’s name on it. And the game begins. She embarks on a desperate hunt for answers, finding more shocking clues in a dangerous game the abductor wants to play—with Maddy..
Price: $0.75 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Author Brian McGrory's experience as a veteran in Washington journalism ought to serve him well in this insider's take on presidential politics, which has been thoughtfully timed for pre-election publication. The premise is a good one: an assassination attempt just days before Clayton Hutchins faces his first national race for the White House, witnessed by a reporter who's been invited to join the campaign as press secretary. But there are too many holes in the back story to make this thriller credible, as McGrory should know. The plot turns on a secret any self-respecting reporter would have tumbled to at the time Hutchins, a self-made millionaire who was elected governor of a Midwestern state in a last-minute landslide, was appointed to replace a vice president who died in office. It strains credulity that by the time Hutchins ascends to the presidency (just a few weeks before the election, when the incumbent also dies in office) that his entire life has not been so thoroughly scrutinized that there are no skeletons left in his closet.

A warning by an anonymous caller that "nothing is as it seems" sets reporter Jack Flynn on the trail of the truth, a trail that takes him first to a militia compound in Idaho and then to a workingman's bar in Boston before he realizes that the answers are hidden much closer to home. The flaws in the plot are even more glaring considering the paeans to investigative journalism and its heroes with which McGrory seasons his narrative. It wouldn't have taken Bob Woodward or Carl Bernstein 10 minutes of telephone research to conclude what the author requires three-quarters of a novel to figure out. But in an election year when the candidates compete to see who can put the voters to sleep first, The Incumbent may whet the appetites of a few political junkies. --Jane Adams.
Price: $14.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Images, Issues, and Attacks explores important differences between incumbents and challengers in the uses of televised advertising in modern presidential elections..
Price: $20.64 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Research on the phenomenon of innovation shows that companies with initially leading positions in the industry often fail when the competitive situation changes and entrants come to the market with disruptive innovations. This raises the important question of what incumbents should do in order to optimally encounter such a situation. Should an incumbent respond at all? Which type of response should it pursue? How could the preferred response be implemented most effectively in terms of structure and management? To answer these questions the author Olga Piskunova analyses the existing recommendations to incumbent firms faced with the disruptive innovation along the response strategy framework consisting of following steps: decision to respond, response formulation and choice, response implementation. She shows further how non-innovation related research streams, such as game theory, contagion theory, marketing, and diversi­fication research, could contribute to the disputable issues in the framework and fill some gaps. This book could be valuable for practitioners, as well as for scholars, researching the theoretical aspects of the phenomena of compe­tition and innovation..
Price: $53.46 [Notify me when price goes down.]