cover image Running Scared: Why Politicians Spend More Time Campaigning Than Governing

Running Scared: Why Politicians Spend More Time Campaigning Than Governing

Anthony King. Free Press, $23.5 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-684-82730-8

Do members of Congress skew their political activities toward self-advertisement, credit-claiming and often meretricious position-taking? According to British political scientist King, U.S. politicians continuously worry about getting reelected, thanks to America's combination of short terms, prodigiously high campaign costs, direct primaries (no other democracy has them) and candidate-centered elections with weak party support. The result, King charges, is that America's elected officials live in constant insecurity, wasting time and scarce resources on nonstop campaigning and fund-raising. This state of affairs, he suggests, helps explain the American system's paralysis, its inability, for example, to tackle budget deficits and crime. King's prescription: lengthen representatives' two-year terms to four years, extend senators' to eight years, and hold these elections concurrently with presidential elections; select candidates by state and local conventions and caucuses instead of primaries; allow political parties to contribute more funds to their candidates' campaigns. Written with acid wit, this is an eye-opening comparative look at American democracy in action, and inaction. (Jan.)