Out of Order: How the Decline of the Political Parties and the Growing Power of the News Media Undermine the American Way of Electing Presidents.

• Author: Greenfield, Jeff

If the folks at the Smithsonian are looking for a new feature to drum up business, let me suggest that they start planning a Hall of Dubious Assumptions About How Our Political System Works. This exhibit--which might take up the entire National Mall--could begin with the fears from the early days of television that the new medium would endow a president with such power that he would assume near-imperial authority. It would then feature the assertions, in the wake of what happened to Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter, that television had diminished the presidency to the point of impotence. We could then add a whole display of electoral certainties, followed by their collapse in the face of reality:

* The nominating process put too much power in the hands of such states as Iowa and New Hampshire.

Except that the big Iowa caucus winners in 1988 were Bob Dole and Dick Gephardt, the surprise showing was made by Pat Robertson, and the big loser was George Bush. Moreover, in the Democratic primaries, the big states have decided the nominee ever since 1980.

* With the press performing the gatekeeping functions once performed by party regulars, candidates are subject to disintegration if they commit a gaffe or are caught up in scandal.

Except that no candidate committed more gaffes than Ronald Reagan in 1980, and Bill Clinton demonstrated that the whiff of scandal or misdeed--even when backed by credible evidence--does not necessarily destroy a presidential campaign.

* The horserace-based, frenetic, poll-obsessed, "who's-ahead-who's-behind" coverage of politics has disconnected the voter from the process.

Except that in 1992, the American public found new connections to the political process and developed a renewed enthusiasm for politics that resulted in a huge increase in turnout.

Regrettably, Thomas Patterson's new book deserves a place in this Hall of Dubious Assumptions. I say "regrettably" because Patterson is one of the most valuable academic observers of the campaign process. His previous works, particularly The Unseeing Eye, offered fresh, provocative insights into how American voters receive and process political information. In Out of Order, however, Patterson has given us an account of the press's role in the political process that is a rehash of familiar observations. Some of them are true; others I find highly questionable. But to anyone who has worried about the role the press plays in choosing presidents, Patterson's offerings will seem, to put it mildly, warmed-over fare of little nutritional value.

The thesis of Out of Order is clear: "The United States cannot have a sensible...