Lee Atwater's Political Success Linked with Mass Communication Theory How Atwater used the Magic Bullet, Agenda-setting, Priming, and Framing Theories to Achieve Political Success James Cochran University of North Alabama 12/1/2012

Lee Atwater's Campaign Success Derived from Mass Communication Theory

Abstract

Lee Atwater remains one of the most recognized political consultants in recent U.S. history.

Having served on campaigns for prominent politicians such as Ronald Reagan and George H. W.

Bush, Atwater preyed upon the emotion of voters by molding campaigns around "wedge issues."

Atwater was able to use these issues to control voter response through four mass communication theories: magic bullet, agenda setting, priming and framing. Atwater effectively used these theories to lead his candidates to political success, leaving a lasting legacy of media mastery in his wake.

Lee Atwater's Campaign Success Derived from Mass Communication Theory

Main Body

Introduction

In the past, American politicians were required to run on merit, wit, and a great deal of craftiness. Campaigns were ground out through back-room deals, dependent upon obtaining grass roots support and occasionally won on issue-focused campaigns. Beginning in the early

20th century, the nature of the political campaign changed for good. Much of it began in 1933 when two Californians, Clem Whitaker and Leone Baxter founded the first political consulting firm, called Campaigns, Inc. In an article published by The New Yorker, Jill Lepore (2012) wrote, "Although Whitaker and Baxter, who founded a company called Campaigns, Inc. in 1933, were the first and the most influential political consultants in American history, they are very little known. They worked behind the scenes. They tried very hard to stay out of the limelight.

That makes writing their history tricky."

While Whitaker and Baxter may have attempted to operate under the cover of shadow,

America is witnessing the rise of the political consultant directly into the media spotlight. Karl

Rove, Paul Begala, and James Carville exemplify the trend of consultants turned pundits.

However, it seems none of the aforementioned individuals loved the spotlight as much as deceased political consultant Lee Atwater. Harvey LeRoy "Lee" Atwater served on campaigns for political greats such as Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, but he was best known for two things: a spitfire personality and a calculated callousness in the campaign game. Atwater was infamous for his ability to find what was emotionally important to the people and take advantage of this to promote his candidate. Either individuals think Atwater "a brilliant strategist" or "the bane of politics," but nearly all concede Atwater was a master of manipulating the populace. However, Atwater was able to achieve complex manipulation through a simplified Lee Atwater's Campaign Success Derived from Mass Communication Theory means: Atwater used a combination of four very simple mass communication theories in conjunction with one another. By combining the magic bullet, agenda-setting, priming, and framing media-communication theories, Lee Atwater was successful in efforts to manipulate voters via "wedge" issues to gain voting support for his political candidates.

Brief Biography of Atwater

The biography of Atwater is easily traceable, unlike many of his campaign antics.

Atwater was born in Atlanta, GA but raised in Aiken, SC. Atwater underwent a severe tragedy early in life in the loss of his younger brother, who was scalded to death by hot oil at the age of three. Atwater would go on to attend Newberry College in South Carolina, where he would begin his career in politics. He would not begin to garner recognition until serving on the campaign of then Sen. Strom Thurmond. Atwater had relative success in the state of South Carolina, winning election for congressional candidate Carroll Campbell (R, 1978). Atwater then served as consultant to Republican candidate Floyd Spence in his bid for Congress in the year 1980.

Atwater would go on to serve as an aide in the Regan campaign in 1980, receiving promotion to deputy-campaign manager for the 1984 re-election campaign. After finding himself in network with George H. W. Bush, Atwater fought his way to attain the spot of Bush's 1988 campaign manager. Shortly after Bush won election, he appointed Atwater chairperson of the Republican

National Committee. After collapsing during a fundraising speech in 1990, Atwater struggled to overcome an aggressive brain tumor. After battling the tumor and undergoing a self-professed change in life views, Atwater passed away on March 29, 1991.

Lee Atwater's Campaign Success Derived from Mass Communication Theory

Rise of and role played by political consultants

To understand the role played by Atwater, one must first understand the power and influence held by political consultants in recent political elections. Political consultants actually serve a variety of functions including fundraising specialists, media advisors, pollsters, and communication specialists. Generally, these individuals help construct and then run a campaign.

David Dulio writes, "[Political consultants] have become the individuals who candidates turn to for advice during, and sometimes between, campaigns and have become a nearly ubiquitous presence in modern elections (xv, 2004)." The political consulting business has become substantial enough for many universities to add graduate degrees that focus on political campaign consulting.

While the first consulting firm was established in 1933, Dulio contributes the rise of the political consultant with a different even occurring around 1960: the shifting from a party- focused election to a candidate-focused election (p. 31, 2002). He writes that a shift took place in which mobilization became over shadowed by attitude conversion, much of which can be attributed to mass media becoming a commonplace entity. When this transition occurred, the political consultant was the first to benefit. Over the span of the next twenty years, America witnessed a major growth in the number of political consultants. Numbers grew from relatively few full time-consultants to hundreds, even thousands if you counted full local advertising executives focusing on political issues (Sabato, p. 13, 1981). Dennis Johnson (2001), former associate dean of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington

University, writes that there have developed three tiers of consultants:

1) strategists, or lead consultants developing the strategy and tactics for winning the

campaign Lee Atwater's Campaign Success Derived from Mass Communication Theory

2) specialists, or experts who focus on one skill such as fund-raising or polling; and the

3) vendors, or individuals who supply a commodity such as a website or voter file.

The amount of professions within the political consulting field exemplifies how much the field has grown since its humble beginnings in 1933.

The Aggression of Atwater as Described by Colleagues

Atwater was able to introduce a relatively new tactic into the campaign industry. He was notorious for playing upon the emotions of voters either to attract them to his candidate or to turn voters against the opposing candidate. Richard McBride, political consultant and friend to

Atwater, claimed, "[Atwater's] whole thing was wedges and magnets. What pulls people apart and what attracts people...You find ways to bring people to you and ways to divide people who are against you. That was his bottom-line practical theory (Moore & Slater, p. 138, 2003)."

Atwater was adept at finding "wedge issues" and repeating the message until the wedge created a literal divide in voter reaction; typically voters wound up on Atwater's side of the split. Atwater was able to level claims at political candidates, often false in nature, and the mainstream media would relentlessly cover Atwater's attacks. Atwater understood that as soon as the stories were aired, voters would only remember the claim and not the future coverage about the validity of the claim.

Atwater was ruthless in his attacks on candidates, refusing to abide by any type of

"gentleman's rule" for personal privacy. He attacked candidates based on public rumor and personal history, and many of his claims stuck. Joe Conason and Gene Lyons (2000) wrote of

Atwater as a callous victor: "He had cultivated a reputation as the meanest and most devious campaign strategist in the business, a man who would do anything to defeat an opponent. It was Lee Atwater's Campaign Success Derived from Mass Communication Theory a persona he cherished, and he had no intention of changing his identity." Atwater gained notoriety for this as he quickly rose to fame in the political ranks. He did this through unified use of four mass communication theories: magic bullet, agenda-setting, priming and framing.

Definition of Magic Bullet Theory

This research adopted the definition of magic bullet theory provided by Baran & Davis

(2008), whom state "[magic bullet theory] is the idea that propaganda can be powerful enough to penetrate most people's defenses and condition them to act in ways useful to the propagandist (p.

80)." To refer to Atwater's antics as propaganda may be a stretch for some, but many Democrats would argue that to call Atwater's strategy "propaganda" would be an attack on propaganda.

Atwater was infamous for finding issues that preyed upon the fears of voters. In Steve Forbes

2008 documentary Boogie Man: the Lee Atwater story, Eric Alterman explained, "People vote their fears and not their hopes. Lee understood that." Many in the academic field have discredited magic bullet theory as being much too simplified a theory to harbor credence, and truthfully, it cannot be given sole responsibility for Atwater's success. Only when coupled with agenda- setting, priming and framing theories can one fully understand Atwater's manipulation of the public audience.

Definition of Agenda-Setting and Priming Theories

Agenda-setting theory focuses on the news media and how these entities dictate what is important to the common citizen. According to Severin and Tankard (1997), agenda-setting theory states, "News media set the agenda for what political matters people consider important

(p. 252)." This occurs via transcendence of importance in news coverage. When a media Lee Atwater's Campaign Success Derived from Mass Communication Theory consumer tunes into the news, he/she expects the broadcasting companies to cover the most important news of the day. The story could be irrelevant to the citizen and relatively unimportant in the scope of global news, but the viewer attributes the story with importance simply because the media have distributed it. This theory is also closely associated with priming theory. Priming theory can be summarized akin to Nicholas Carr's definition from his 2010 work, the Shallows.

Carr writes of a physical alteration of the brain as synapses are triggered repetitively. This causes the synapses to fire more regularly and with more rapidity. Simply put, neurons that fire together are wired together (Carr, 2010).

Definition of Framing Theory

As developed by Erving Goffman in 1974, framing theory states that media helps contribute ideas that people use to frame their thinking and behavior to make sense of the social world (Baran & Davis, 2008.) Baran & Davis (2008) write that research over the past fifteen years has proven frame theory to have empirical support. "The most common finding is that exposure to news coverage results in learning that is consistent with the frames that structure the coverage (p. 322)." Essentially, the viewer consumes media and digests the information to mold personal perceptions of their social reality.

Analysis of Work for Carroll Campbell (1978) Against Opponent Max Heller

Much of Atwater's major success began with his work for Carroll Campbell (R) in the

1978 SC congressional election for the fourth district. First, Atwater needed to discover what single message he could send in conjunction with magic bullet theory to attack Heller. This was the first step: identifying a topic to pray upon the fear of voters. By discovering a controversial Lee Atwater's Campaign Success Derived from Mass Communication Theory topic, Atwater would ensure the media would cover the issue and frame the public image of his opponent based upon the discovered controversy. By covering the story, news media would follow with agenda-setting theory, relaying importance and credibility to the controversy simply by covering it. This in turn would prime the brains of the voters to associate the opponent with the reported attacks. This was Atwater's formula for success. In this instance, Atwater chose to pray upon the fact that the Democratic opponent, Max Heller, was Jewish. He had found his magic bullet. Atwater used religion to drive a wedge in the voting populace. He began by using a series of push-polls: a new political tactic that sought to inform voters of issues under the guise of a poll. The National Council on Public Polls (NCPP, 1995) defines push polls as

"a telemarketing technique in which telephone calls are used to canvass vast numbers of

potential voters, feeding them false and damaging "information" about a candidate under

the guise of taking a poll to see how this "information" effects voter preferences. In fact,

the intent is to "push" the voters away from one candidate and toward the opposing

candidate."

In this case, Atwater distributed polls that asked, "Would you vote for a Jew who did not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? (Forbes, 2008)" After the notion that Heller did not believe in the predominant religion of the area resonated within the voters' minds, another development occurred: a third candidate announced his entry into the race.

"A third-party candidate named Don Sprouse -- rumored, though never proven, to have

been secretly recruited by Atwater -- emerged on the scene and said publicly that Heller

didn't believe that "Jesus Christ has come yet", a charge that Campbell distanced himself

from but was, nonetheless, extraordinarily effective (Callizzi, 2010)." Lee Atwater's Campaign Success Derived from Mass Communication Theory

Sprouse entered the race and made religion, mainly Heller's lack of "born-again Christian" religion, the focus of his campaign. Heller was unable to withstand the attacks presented from the newcomer. By covering the campaign of Sprouse, the media effectively framed Heller as a

Jewish candidate who did not believe Jesus Christ was the Son of God. This primed the voters to associate Heller with a lack of religion. Heller's lead in the race dissolved, and Carroll Campbell found himself the winner of the election. While Atwater was never directly linked with Sprouse's entry into the race, almost all historical reviews of Atwater's political career mention the case.

Atwater succeeded by driving a "wedge" into the population via the aid of the media.

Work on the Floyd Spence Campaign (1980) and the Sabotage of Tom Turnipseed

While gaining recognition for his tactics for his work with Carroll Campbell in 1978,

Atwater's efforts on the Floyd Spence (SC) congressional campaign marked the most publicity

Atwater received to date. Atwater achieved recognition for his superior strategy in dismantling the public image of Spence's opponent, Tom Turnipseed. By this point Atwater had practically solidified his strategy as follows:

I. Controversial Attack Topic + Topic Leak to the Media= Media Coverage

II. Media Coverage + Media Consumption = Opinion Shift in Voter Base

III. Opinion Shift in Voter Base = Atwater Success

He succeeded again against Tom Turnipseed.

"It was a Congressional race, I was the Democratic nominee. [Atwater] came out and in

kind of an underhanded way, in a sense, he got a reporter to ask him a question about,

``Well, isn't it true that Tom Turnipseed had some kind of psychiatric problem as a kid?'' Lee Atwater's Campaign Success Derived from Mass Communication Theory

He was the master at creating little juicy tidbits for the media."- Tom Turnipseed

(Forbes, 2008)

Atwater seized upon the public record of Turnipseed's mental illness from his younger days and made the claim that Turnipseed had been "hooked up to jumper cables." This remains one of the most famous quotes from Atwater's campaigning days. Lee Bandy, political writer for S.C. paper

The State said, "That got quoted all over kingdom come down here. Lee Atwater said— accused

Tom Turnipseed of being hooked up to jumper cables (Forbes 2008)." However, attacking the mental health of his opponent was not enough for Atwater. Atwater would then construct a surprise telecommunications campaign, which falsely informed white suburban voters within the district that Turnipseed was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of

Colored People (NAACP). Atwater made race an issue. The rest was history. Turnipseed was defeated amid the media landslide concerning his previous mental illness and falsely reported membership within the NAACP. "Atwater's tactics worked as Spence won 56 percent to 44 percent. Spence held the seat until his death in 2001 (Callizzi, 2010)."

Analysis of Atwater's Work on the 1988 Bush campaign

Atwater would also play an instrumental role in Regan's political success, yet Atwater's pinnacle of infamy would arise during his time leading the 1988 presidential campaign for

George H. W. Bush. After eliminating Dole as the internal-party opposition, the Bush campaign was able to focus on targeting Democratic nominee . For this campaign,

Atwater chose to play upon a topic he had left relatively untouched in recent campaigns: the patriotism of the opposing candidate. Atwater decided to strike Dukakis with a whirlwind of attacks, all pointing back to a lack of patriotism on the part of Dukakis and his wife Kitty. The Lee Atwater's Campaign Success Derived from Mass Communication Theory

Bush Campaign received help from Republican Senator as Symms claimed that photos existed of Kitty Dukakis burning the American flag in protest of Vietnam War initiatives.

No evidence ever surfaced regarding the alleged burning, and the Dukakis campaign denied the reports. The media still ran the story though, and the Dukakis campaign struggled to dispel the rumors. However, Atwater would not stop with a simple rumor spread by a senator. Forbes

(2008) documents the all-out assault on the Dukakis family's patriotism and how Atwater used the media to frame the race around "patriotism" itself. Attacks ranged from "Dukakis's heritage" to "Dukakis and his support of furlough programs." One of the original issues involved Dukakis's vote against a bill mandating all classrooms recite the Pledge of Allegiance every morning of school. At a press conference, Atwater famously said, "Why in the world did

[Dukakis] veto this bill calling for the Pledge of Allegiance to be said in our classrooms? Can you imagine that? Get down here, Dukakis, and answer that question!" Forbes (2008) continues to provide a detailed account of how the Bush Campaign rallied behind Bush's "patriotism," at one point displayed by Bush wearing American flag cowboy boots, and destroyed the image of

Dukakis.

The attack ads continued to flow, but none rivaled that of the "Willie Horton" ad, regarded by many as one of the most effective television ads in American political history.

Focusing on Dukakis's support of the furlough program. Furlough programs often function as a means of inmate rehabilitation, granting inmates free weekends in society to promote gradual re- socialization. The ad "...told the story of a prisoner furloughed from Massachusetts who committed a heinous crime in another state. The ad used a menacing mug shot of an African-

American criminal and was widely denounced as appealing to racial prejudices (PBS, 2008).”

The ad displayed the mug shot of Horton while listing the malicious crimes he had committed, Lee Atwater's Campaign Success Derived from Mass Communication Theory including rape and murder, while participating in the furlough program. Immediately after listing the crimes committed by Horton, the screen flashed from Horton's mug shot to an image of

Dukakis. An audio bite ran discussing "Dukakis and his soft stance on crime." The media pounced. Atwater's magic bullet caused fear due to the criminal and racial implications of the ad.

Atwater went on record as saying, "I was appalled," he said, "to hear about [Willie Horton], because it defied common sense that someone who was in jail for life with no chance of parole would be allowed to get out scot-free on the weekend" (Greider, 1989, p. 75). The media blitz continued. Joe Conason, journalist and political writer for Salon.com described the media frenzy.

"Everybody saw how provocative it was, and so it got a tremendous amount of free

airtime. Who knows how many times ``hooked up to jumper cables'' got repeated in South

Carolina, and who knows how many times Willie Horton's scowling, angry face of a

killer was televised absolutely for free (Forbes, 2008)."

The media continued to air the ad, much to the frustration of the Dukakis campaign. What was even more frustrating was the absence of ties between the ad and the Bush Campaign. An independent political firm ran the ad. Again, Atwater had his mission accomplished without any direct links to his own actions. By the time the media blitz had subsided, Dukakis had been framed as an unpatriotic candidate who supported the release of criminals back into a vulnerable society. The wedge was in place. A vote for Bush was a vote for "patriotism and anti-crime."

Voters were primed to associate Dukakis with these negative elements. In lieu of agenda-setting theory, Atwater's magic bullet had hit its target yet again. It was soon after Bush's election that

Atwater was appointed chairperson of the Republican National Committee. Within two years of his appointment to the RNC, Atwater was in a violent struggle against an aggressive brain tumor.

On March 29, 1991, Atwater left this world and a complex legacy behind him. Lee Atwater's Campaign Success Derived from Mass Communication Theory

A Lasting Impact

Atwater has left a lasting impact on the political campaign industry. Similarities have been drawn between the personalities of Atwater and Democratic heavyweight James Carville

(McGurn, 1991). Many have also deemed Karl Rove, Republican consultant, the protégé of

Atwater. Some individuals on the left have even given Rove the moniker of "the Dark Disciple"

(Morrow, 2006) in respect to tactics employed by Rove, which are similar to those of Atwater.

There are also those who believe Atwater brought negative campaigning to its most highest level of use in U.S. history. Regardless, Atwater remains one of the most well known consultants in recent memory. Atwater found success by implementing "wedge issues" and manipulating voter response via magic bullet, agenda-setting, priming, and framing mass communication theories.

Atwater understood the role of the media and effectively used the media to achieve his desired political success. Howard Fineman claimed, "[Atwater] understood that the media beast can only be chewing on one ankle at a time. Make sure the ankle is the other guy's (Forbes, 2008)." He was adept at attacking the opponent and making the campaign about his opponent's flaws instead of the issues of his own candidate. Ed Rollins gave an excellent visual of Atwater's view on media in an interview with Steve Forbes (2008). Rollins claimed, "National Journal did a profile. And Lee had written that he had a record of 26 and 0. I said, 'Lee, we've not won 26 races in the South since the Civil War. What kind of [expletive] that?' And he goes, 'It's my record now. It's in The National Journal." Atwater understood that the media had the power to turn the falsity into an adopted truth, and he utilized this tactic to find the political spotlight and become one of the most infamous political consultants of all time.

Lee Atwater's Campaign Success Derived from Mass Communication Theory

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