Fall 2008

To Our Readers

It is a great pleasure to introduce this issue on “Politics, Campaigning, and Democracy,” my first as vice president for research. In establishing the University of Virginia, one of Thomas Jefferson’s distinctive goals was to strengthen the innovative political and social institutions that he had played such a large role in designing through the creation and application of political knowledge. As you will see from these profiles, the study of politics remains a high priority and a special focus of University scholars from a range of academic disciplines. Their analyses of campaign advertising and voting behavior address new developments in the techniques and technologies of political communication, with some surprising and counterintuitive conclusions. We hope that you will find these perspectives useful as you follow the current campaigns.

Thomas C. Skalak
Vice President for Research