Going Local

“A timely analysis of how presidents have changed their leadership styles in response to developments in the media. This book will engage scholars and undergraduates alike.”
– Brandice Canes-Wrone, Princeton University

“In recent years Jeffrey Cohen has single-handedly kept political science research up to date with presidents’ continuous strategic adaptations to rapidly changing mass communications technology. In Going Local Cohen demonstrates how presidents have responded to an increasingly fragmented media environment by targeting their public appeals to specific constituencies.”
– Samuel Kernell, University of California, San Diego

“With his usual skill, Jeffrey Cohen tackles an important topic in a detailed study that is sure to be read by pundits and scholars alike. As the political parties continue to fragment, and as presidents receive far greater scrutiny from the press, much of it negative, the public seems to be paying less attention. Presidents have responded by taking their message to more select audiences. Cohen’s book is a masterful treatise on how this new political dynamic is reshaping the presidency. It is must-reading.”
– Richard Waterman, University of Kentucky

“Going Local makes an important contribution to the literature on how presidents seek to build support in the public. Cohen’s argument updates Kernell’s ‘going public’ hypothesis for a world in which the mass media and the political parties have changed. This is an important aspect of presidential leadership, and Cohen’s research will be of interest to scholars in political science and communications, as well as to general readers.”
– M. Stephen Weatherford, University of California, Santa Barbara