"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 in 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."

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