ABSTRACT
The explosion of new communication technologies over the last 40 years has fostered a profusion of specialist technical experts, in such matters as polls, computers and software, the internet, television presentation and advertising. The more capital-intensive the more professional the campaign, because the new technologies require new sets of consultants and new batteries of technocrats. Labor-intensive campaigns are essentially ‘amateur’ run, relying heavily on party workers and volunteers for mass canvassing and public meetings. Political consulting carries stronger claims to professionalism. It is now a full-time occupation in the USA and there are signs of an emerging common identity, of political consulting with its special sets of skills as distinct from other trades and crafts.
