ABSTRACT
WHEN Time (1984) magazine published a story on the 1984 campaign entitled “Facing the Fatigue Factor,” it was a sign of the presidential times. Evermore, challengers as well as incumbents are finding it wise or necessary, expected or demanded, that they travel the length and breadth of the land and speak to the American people. If they are leading in the polls they must travel the rally circuit to ensure that their campaign workers do not slacken their efforts. If they are running neck and neck with their opponents, the candidates must out-travel and out-talk each other to demonstrate that they have the stamina to fight the good fight. And if they trail their opponents, they must redouble their efforts by including two shopping malls in Joplin rather than one, three party fundraisers in Kansas City instead of two. Somehow, candidates, reporters, and voters have come to equate electoral success with rhetorical energy and no political mathematician dares question this postulate.
