Political Scientist Sam Popkin to Speak Nov. 1 on the Race to Win the White House

Article Content

Timely behind-the-scenes insights into the current presidential campaign and those of past challengers will be offered by Samuel Popkin, noted political scientist and author, during a free lecture at noon, Nov. 1, in the Geisel Library at UC San Diego.

Popkin, a professor of political science at UC San Diego, is the author of the newly-published book The Candidate: What It Takes to Win—and Hold—the White House. The New York Times hailed his book as a “management bible for the business of presidential campaigning” in which Popkin argues that “polling, strategy and even a candidate’s platform are less important than organization.”

Samuel Popkin

The Washington Post called Popkin’s campaign book a “compelling history” and The Financial Times called it “a fix for political junkies” while George Stephanopoulos praised it for the “surprising secrets” unveiled by Popkin’s unique ability to connect the minds of voters with the machinery of political campaigns.

Popkin’s previous book, The Reasoning Voter was described as a classic by Joe Klein in Time magazine, and has been widely cited in Washington as well as in academia.

Popkin is an active participant as well as an academic analyst of presidential elections. He has consulted on polling, targeting and strategy in the presidential campaigns of Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and George McGovern, and played Ronald Reagan for Carter in the practice debates held before the 1980 Carter-Reagan debate.

About the UC San Diego Library

Ranked among the nation’s top public academic research libraries, the UC San Diego Library plays an integral role in advancing and supporting the university’s research, teaching, and public service missions. As the intellectual heart of the UC San Diego campus, the university library provides access to more than 7 million digital and print volumes, journals, and multimedia materials to meet the knowledge and information needs of faculty, students, and members of the public. Each day, the Library’s vast resources are accessed nearly 90,000 times through the Library’s main Web site. For more information: http://libraries.ucsd.edu/