Theft at the Public Till
of the candidates. The reasons are several, including a tendency for negative themes to become embedded in journalists’ narratives of the campaign. Election news is a story of triumph and defeat, and of the tactical and personal factors that separate the victors from the vanquished. Journalists reason from effect to cause. They observe what is happening in the race and then look to the candidates for explanations. Other possible reasons for the electorate’s changing support, such as the activation of party loyalties or the intrusion of societal problems, get less attention. To the media, a change in a candidate’s position, however slight, is a calculated attempt to manipulate the electorate. In a different schema-that of governing-flexibility and com- promise are a vital part of the political process. Campaigns have historically served an educative function for candidates. As they travel the country, their ideas are tested against public opinion and regional problems. They learn which of their ideas are sound and which need adjustment if they are to garner the support necessary to make their programs work if and when the voters put them in office. The campaign would be a failure if the public’s reactions did not feed back into the candidates’ programs. journalists un- derstand this basic principle at some level, but their schema-of elections and campaigns cannot easily accommodate it. The idea that candidates learn from their campaign experiences is not part of that schema. The feckless candidate who is so prominent in the news is largely the creation of the me- dia’s own limitations. Explanations based on the actions of leaders, though less sound than explanations based on new information, are more easily assembled and distributed. When the complexity of politics confronts the simplicity of news, it is the complexity that gives way. A national primary is yet another approach to reform of the presiden- tial selection process. Opinion polls have consistently indicated that most Americans would prefer a national primary to the present system-a response that stems as much from a desire for a shorter campaign as from an under- standing of the implications of a national primary. An innovative solution to toe problems associated with a national primary would be to hold the party convention before the primary Similar systems are in effect in a few states, including New York and Colorado. The purpose of the convention
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