Political campaigns

P.W. Singer and Emerson Brooking say social media has been manipulated to fuel popular uprisings and affect the course of military and political campaigns. Their new book is LikeWar.

Former Secretary of State John Kerry says that partisan politics are harming America — and they have been for a while. In fact, when he ran for president in 2004, Kerry, then a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, contemplated naming Republican Sen. John McCain as his running mate.

Campaign Expert Neil Oxman Talks About How He Makes Political Ads

Washington Post reporter Dan Balz sizes up the state of the Republican party — including how the GOP is preparing for 2012 and how it has been affected by recent sex scandals.

As Barack Obama's presidential campaign manager, David Plouffe was responsible for constructing an unprecedented grass-roots campaign. In his new book, The Audacity To Win: The Insside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory, Plouffe presents a behind-the-scenes look at a historic campaign.

Stefan Forbes' documentary looks at the life and controversial career of Lee Atwater, the political operative who ran George H.W. Bush's 1988 campaign — and introduced the nation to Willie Horton.

Fresh Air's TV critic reviews HBO's Recount, about the uncertain and still-controversial aftermath of the U.S. presidential election. The movie stars Kevin Spacey, Laura Dern and Tom Wilkinson.

David Schwartz, chief curator of film at the American Museum of the Moving Image, talks about the history of political commercials, from their inception in 1952 to the present.

Schwartz is the organizer of the exhibit "The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2004." (This interview was first broadcast on July 29, 2004.)

Stanford linguist and author of Going Nucular Geoff Nunberg discusses the word entrepreneur.

Journalist Wayne Slater is the co-author of Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential. The book, now in paperback, looks at the impact of White House senior adviser Karl Rove on President Bush. There's a new documentary based on the book.