Talk Show Campaigns

Over the past twenty years, presidential candidates have developed an entertainment talk show strategy in which they routinely chat with the likes of Oprah Winfrey, David Letterman, and Jon Stewart. In fact, between 1992 and 2012, there have been more than 200 candidate interviews on daytime and late night talk shows with nearly every presidential candidate—from long shot primary contender to major party nominee—hitting the talk show circuit at some point during the campaign.  Using a detailed narrative with extensive empirical data on audiences, content, viewer reaction, and press coverage, Michael Parkin explores the development of the entertainment talk show strategy and assesses its impact on presidential campaigns.