post-modern campaign era. Norris contends that the post-modern campaign is a ‘complex phenomenon’. 203 However, Johnson-Cartee and Copeland define this phase as ‘media - age politics’ in which consultants have become ‘the new directors of...political drama’ 204 It is portrayed that there has been a professionalisation of the campaign which has resulted in parties utilising opinion polling and focus groups to engage with voters as part of the permanent campaign. Norris suggests that as a consequence, post-modern party campaigns have sought to incorporate both a catch-all national strategy with personalised constituency campaigns, as seen in the pre-modern era, in order to re-affirm party loyalties and attract potential voters in an era of dealignment. 205 It has been seen that as a consequence of the evolution of technology, election campaigns have evolved to feature new and innovative party communication techniques; however one feature that has remained a consistent feature of campaigns is the use of ground- campaign activities. Nielsen writes that ground campaigning can be viewed as ‘personalised political communication’ as people assume the role of the media in delivering political communications and mobilising political support; ground campaign activities are often human-intensive and include door-to-door canvassing, delivering election literature, phoning voters and fundraising. 206 How influential the ground campaign is has been subject to academic debate; although Denver et al suggest that ground campaigning was viewed as a ‘sideshow’ that made ‘no significant difference to election results’. 207 Nielsen argues that it is ‘an important form of political communication’ as a result of the wide -ranging nature of the activities 203 Norris, p.148 204 Johnson-Cartee, K. S., & Copeland, G.A. (1997). Inside political campaigns:Theory and practice. Westport: Praeger Publishers 205 Norris p.7 206 Nielsen, R. K. (2012). Ground wars: Personalised communications in political campaigns. New Jersey:Princeton University Press. p.7 207 Denver et al. p.181
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