Get Out the Vote: How to Increase Voter Turnout Third Edition by Donald P. Green and Alan S. Gerber (Brooking Institution Press)

This is a very well done and thorough book on what works and what doesn't relating to Get-Out-The-Vote efforts. The book scores high in terms of credibility in that it references, describes, and summarizes research that has been undertaken on varying GOTV tactics. Also, the author appears to be a full-time professor, not engaged in consulting and presumably without financial ties to any of the industries that provide GOTV services.

The book scores very high in terms of readability and accessibility in that at the beginning and end of each chapter the author outlines the conclusions as to the efficacy and efficiency of various GOTV tactics. His work underscores how little effect most GOTV efforts have on turnout (even those with a positive effect are almost uniformly slight) and identifies those which tend to produce the greatest effect according to studies.

This is a serious book for any politico who will be organizing or running campaigns. It will be a great aid if practitioners are willing to be convinced that some "conventional wisdom" is largely anecdotal and often the product of those who have a service to sell. The book does reveal better and worse tactics and also dollarizes the choices in terms of cost per likely voter so that resource allocation can be a factor in assessing which tactics to emphasize. Although the author touches some on persuadability and the effect of message on GOTV tactics, that is not a focus of the book. This lack of attention to message that might be married with given tactics is a shortfall of the work, though in fairness to the author it appears beyond the scope of his effort. It is a valuable addition to any campaigner's bookshelf.