ABSTRACT
You can view presidential campaigns through a variety of lenses. Campaigns are the essence of democracy, the process by which Americans grant their consent to be governed-the mechanism that confers legitimacy on democratic government. They provide venues for deliberation and opportunities to debate diverse solutions to the nation’s problems. They are quadrennial rituals that pump up the nation’s political circulation, energizing it with the oxygen of ideas and the adrenalin of hope. But to candidates and consultants, elections are one thing, and one thing only: exercises in persuasion. They are strategic battles to convince Americans to cast their votes in favor of a particular candidate. The weapons are arguments and appeals delivered interpersonally, on television, and in videos streamed across the Internet.
