Garrett 8
conceptualize and respond to crises, examining consultant attitudes should be informative.
Political consultants are therefore an obvious starting point when considering how congressional
campaigns conceptualize campaign crises.
Most studies of political consultants broadly describe who consultants are and what they
do (Rosenbloom 1973; Sabato 1981; Luntz 1988; Johnson 2000; 2001; Medvic 2000; Thurber
and Nelson 2000; Thurber, Nelson and Dulio 2000), focus on the impact political consultants
have on electoral outcomes such as vote margin or fundraising (Dulio 2001; Dulio 2004;
Herrnson 1992; Medvic and Lenart 1997; Medvic 2001) or provide anecdotal data on consultant
activity through case studies (Loomis 2001; Thurber 2001). Few works explore what consultants
actually think, how their thinking influences campaign strategy or how they behave in critical
campaign situations.
8
This paper seeks to fill the knowledge gap.
However, I do not wish to overstress the strategic role campaign consultants play in
strategic campaign decision-making and crisis management. Consultant activities are often
mediated by other political professionals and organizations (Abbe and Herrnson, n.d.; Herrnson
2000b; Kolodny 2000), such as regular campaign staff, campaign managers, spouses and, of
course, candidates. Just as in official congressional power circles (Thurber 1996; DeGregorio
1997), strategic campaign influence often has more to do with one’s personal qualities and
professional networks than with official position. Particularly for incumbents, chiefs of staff,
8
American University’s Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies’ Improving Campaign Conduct project,
sponsored by The Pew Charitable Trusts, is an exception which provides extensive attitudinal data on the consulting
industry. Much of this research is available online at http://www.american.edu/campaignconduct. Dulio (2004) also
complains of a lack of attention to attitudes in the consulting industry. Israel S. Manor, a Cornell University Ph.D.
candidate is completing a dissertation exploring how political consultants learn information and make decisions.
The dissertation is entitled, “Making Up Their Minds: What Do Campaign Consultants Know and How to They
Make Decisions?”
Convention