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In the second half of the twentieth century, the electorate learned that judging a candi-date on stands on issues was not a totally reliable predictor of his or her conduct in of-fice. Some candidates acted against voter expectations: Lyndon Johnson, elected in 1964 as the peace candidate, escalated the war in Vietnam. Some presidents proved unable to meet their objectives. John Kennedy did not succeed in translating his cam-paign promises into law; only after his death did his successor secure passage of some of Kennedy’s key initiatives. Jimmy Carter, elected to bring the budget into balance and lower inflation and unemployment, had not accomplished these goals by the end of his first term. Bill Clinton failed to make good on his campaign promise to deliver a health care reform plan that could be financed by cost savings in the existing system. It is im?portant to note, however, that, at the presidential level at least, more than two-thirds of the time those elected make a substantial effort to keep their promises. From this per?spective, one might note that Clinton tried to keep his promise to reform the health care system but was thwarted by the intransigence of his own party and the opposition of the Republican minority.
Meanwhile, the character of a candidate seemed increasingly important in judging performance in office. Whether a person was truthful and trustworthy was a focal con?cern of those probing the failures of Johnson’s handling of the Vietnam War, Nixon’s handling of Watergate, and Clinton’s handling of Whitewater and the Lewinsky affair; whether a person was competent was central to those probing the failures of the presi?dencies of Ford and Carter; whether a person was candid about his health was of con?cern to those who learned of Kennedy’s Addison’s disease only after his death.
What can and does television tell us about issues and the character of presidential candidates? Thomas Sabo
Determining Which Issues Are the Likely Focus of a Campaign In their own ads, in debates, and in news clips, candidates reveal their popular past positions and conceal their unpopular ones. At the same time, candidates reveal the unpopular past positions of their opponents. Public opinion polls and focus group tests (analysis of the response of small groups to various messages) help campaigns determine which issues will reso-nate with which voting group.
When an issue is controversial but nonetheless beneficial to one side or the other, that issue is more likely to be raised in the ads and news coverage of a political action
For example, in 1982, nationally syndicated columnist George Will evaluated charges made by senatorial aspirant Bruce F. Caputo against incumbent senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and concluded: “Caputo asserts that Moynihan Voted against capital punishment.’ Moynihan favors capital punishment for certain crimes. There has been no direct vote on capital punishment since Moynihan entered the Senate. Caputo is referring to procedural votes that reveal more about the parliamentary context at the time than Moynihan’s views on the subject.”12
When candidates believe they have been unfairly attacked, they often attempt to enlist the aid of the media in combating the attack. Journalists can be drawn into the campaign as arbiters of the truth or falsity of attacks by the attacker, by the person attacked, or by the dynamics of the interchange itself.
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