ABSTRACT
One element of a general election has been excluded from this analysis — the campaign itself, on the doorsteps and in the homes. Most electioneering in England takes place in the mass media — radio, TV and the newspapers — and the competing parties seek to influence the electorate by their national presentation of both policies and personalities. Most of this campaigning for votes has no explicit spatial element; the parties are seeking to influence the electorate as a whole, and hoping that votes will be translated into seats. (Johnston, 1979b, p. 117 gives a, non-English, example of spatial campaigning.) At the local level, the candidates and the party-workers build on the national campaign, setting it in the local context and directing it at the target groups of voters.
