ABSTRACT
America's national political contests are moments of great opportunity for defining public problems, exploring new directions, evaluating the character of aspiring leaders, and dreaming about the future. Elections are the center pieces of the civic culture. The postmodern election comes complete with euphemistic and ambiguous jargon to help bridge the uneasy gap between it and more familiar, and one might add, meaningful, electoral realities past. Signs of electoral foolery can be traced to much earlier periods in American history. The historians tell that George Washington's campaign practices were anything but models of noble principle. For several elections, television has been the decisive factor in the reports of voters about how they make up their minds. What the means for elections is that television could bring an entirely different political reality. Debates could become true forensic exchanges. Conventions could be conferred special status rather than threatened with cancellation.
