The big blue machine : how Tory campaign backrooms changed Canadian politics forever

An inside account of the Progressive Conservative’s campaign organization. The Progressive Conservative Party's “big blue machine” pioneered techniques that centralized campaign control, tied media communications and political advertising to values-based opinion polling, shifted media focus onto tightly orchestrated leader’s tours, standardized party look and policy messages, and reinvented partisan fundraising through direct solicitation from a broad base of donors. J. Patrick Boyer’s behind-the-scenes account reveals how and why Progressive Conservative campaign innovations (most imported from the U.S.) transformed techniques of political control, communications, advertising, polling, policy, and fund-raising until the “blue machine” backroom operations transformed Canadian politics forever. Patrick’s direct experience in these changes, and interviews with key players from Tory backrooms, enrich this authentic and timely account. His account of the formidable... An inside account of the Progressive Conservative’s campaign organization. The Progressive Conservative Party’s “big blue machine” pioneered electoral techniques of centralized control, communications, campaign advertising, polling, policy-presentation, and fund-raising. Inspired by Dalton Camp and Norman Atkins, its widespread yet close-knit network of organizers and specialists changed how Canadian campaigns were fought, even as their “political machine” transformed Canadian public life itself. J. Patrick Boyer’s behind-the-scenes account reveals how and why the blue machine’s campaign innovations (most imported from the U.S.) transformed Canadian politics forever. Boyer’s direct experience in these changes, and interviews with key players from Tory backrooms, enrich his authentic and timely account. This saga of the formidable campaign organization operating inside the Progressive Conservative Party for more than four decades shows why the big blue machine deservedly became a Canadian political legend. A tale of politics from the inside out, Inside the Big Blue Machine: How Tory Campaign Backrooms Changed Canadian Politics Forever is the story of a formidable campaign organization that ran a string of winning Progressive Conservative Party leadership campaigns, as well as federal and provincial campaigns in a half-dozen provinces over four decades. Operated by highly specialized individuals, the Big Blue Machine pioneered new techniques in polling, advertising, fundraising, communications, and policy development. It not only redefined how Canadian election campaigns are waged, but in the process transformed the conduct of Canadian public life itself. This book dissects this little-understood aspect of Canadian history from inside the operation, exposing the psychology of political campaigning from the perspective of the people who made it happen. "J. Patrick Boyer' behind-the-scenes account reveals how and why the blue machine's campaign innovations (most imported from the U.S.) transformed Canadian politics forever. Boyer's direct experience in these changes, and interviews with key players from Tory backrooms, enrich his authentic and timely account. This saga of the formidable campaign organization operating inside the Progressive Conservative Party for more than four decades shows why the big blue machine deservedly became a Canadian political legend."--Publisher The story of a formidable campaign organization - "the Big Blue Machine" - that ran a string of successful Progressive Conservative Party campaigns in a several provinces over four decades. Devoted to the art of winning campaigns, it pioneered new techniques in polling, advertising, fundraising, communications, and policy development. Offers a rare perspective on familiar historical events and showing how the blue machine revolutionized election campaigns