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View the full text and summary of The Permanent Campaign and Its Future.

We live in the age of the "permanent campaign," when the line between campaigning and governing has blurred, when pollsters are consulted on nearly every matter of policy, and when the old congressional customs of comity have given way to roll call votes designed solely to frame campaign commercials.

The Permanent Campaign and Its Future is the first comprehensive scholarly examination of this new political condition--its origin and causes, its impact on politics and policy, its glorification of the pollster, and its consequences for institutions such as the Congress and the courts and for mechanisms such as the traditional appointments process. The eminent political scientists who contribute to the book weigh the benefits and the costs of this state of permanent campaign and describe the kind of political system that is likely to emerge within it.

Hugh Heclo of George Mason University sets the stage with an overview of the permanent campaign phenomenon. Steven Hess of the Brookings Institution then explains how reporters and the media have become central players in the new system, and Karlyn H. Bowman of AEI does the same for pollsters and consultants. Anthony Corrado of Colby College examines the repercussions of having leaders of Congress become leaders in raising money for their parties. Kathryn Dunn Tenpas of the University of Pennsylvania explores how White House institutions have evolved to promote the president’s governing agenda as if it were a campaign agenda. David Brady and Morris Fiorina of Stanford University and the Hoover Institution describe the breakdown in norms of congressional comity that were meant to promote legislative coalitions. Burdett Loomis of the University of Kansas traces the rise of ambitious interest-group media campaigns--far in excess of traditional lobbying operations--to influence legislation. Charles Jones of the University of Wisconsin considers how the growing emphasis on campaign techniques in governing has altered the character of the transition from being president-elect to being president. Editors Norman J. Ornstein and Thomas Mann conclude the book with reflections on how the permanent campaign may affect the future of American democracy. [more...]

Norman J. Ornstein is a resident scholar at AEI and a regular contributor to Roll Call. Thomas E. Mann is the W. Averell Harriman Senior Fellow in American Governance at the Brookings Institution.