Know Thy Enemy File ...

The liberal DailyKos has some very good thoughts on the psychology of voter behavior. The post is titled: Understanding voter turnout. It deals a lot with the importance of "brand image," for example:

... "Flip-flopping" ... blurs in voters' minds the image of what the candidate -- and by extension the candidate's party -- stands for. "Staying on message" is a way of policing candidates' and officials' pronouncements so that the party "brand image" is not blurred by messages that are spread out over the political spectrum.