ABSTRACT
Often new candidates and students have asked what political campaigning is really like. Many have been impressed by the glamour and the power that they read and hear about. This chapter describes some of the more prosaic and unpleasant aspects of campaigning, they are usually surprised and somewhat shocked. In campaigning and political life, few great people dedicate their lives and fortunes to public service, despite what television series, movies, and political hyperbole would have believed. Campaigns are costly and by their nature tend often to exclude potential candidates of only moderate means. State Assembly campaigns, featuring bitter primaries, are also becoming expensive, according to several accounts. Andrew Stein spent more than $200,000 in his campaign to represent Manhattan in the State Assembly in 1968. The length of time involved in campaigning has been criticized as impossible and unnecessary, but thus far there have not been any significantly successful attempts to reduce it.
