Joe Klein: “In my book about the evils of political consulting, Politics Lost, I described one of the great descents in the history of negative advertising. The mad genius Pat Caddell was running Senator Alan Cranston’s 1986 re-election campaign in California. There was a problem: Focus groups showed that Californians didn’t like anything about Alan Cranston.
Not a thing. Zilch. What to do? Cranston was running against a moderate Republican tech executive Ed Zschau. Little was known about the guy. He was a blank canvas and Caddell painted it black. All negative, all the time. Cranston the unloved won that race. And a slimy tactic was born.”“We’ve seen many such races since. And we are likely to see another in 2024. Only this time the bar has been set even lower.”