ABSTRACT
In his celebrated study of electoral behavior, V. O. Key observed that "as candidates and parties clamor for attention and vie for political support, the people's verdict can be no more than a selective reflection from among the alternatives and outlooks presented to them." 1 A fundamental assumption of Key, and that of most democratic theorists, is that if elections are to matter, they should offer policy choices in any given election. The same observation was made over forty years ago by E. E. Schattschneider and his colleagues as a necessary condition for electoral linkage between public opinion and policy output, in their exposition of a responsible parties model. 2
