mistake, a big analytical fault line that runs right underneath the way we cover the race for the presidency. we like to focus on characters and campaigns and people. we believe in ads and messaging and we believe in speeches. too often the way we understand presidential elections is really no different than the way we understood our high school elections. they re both just big popularity contests and the winner is whoever is cooler, whoever has a better campaign, whoever will buy us beer. and god bless the american voter for this. he doesn t and she doesn t get the credit they deserve. the american public are not that shallow. candidates matter of course and so do campaigns, but not that much. not as much as people often think. but you know what does matter thatch, what really drives these elections? the economy. the economy matters. the economy is swroerts look to understand whether the president is doing a good job or a bad one. because though campaign ads might lie, paychecks usual
house. and that s because these questions rely on a fallacy, a mistake, a big analytical fault line that runs right underneath the way we cover the race for the presidency. we like to focus on characters and campaigns and people. we believe in ads and messaging and we believe in speeches. too often the way we understand presidential elections is really no different than the way we understood our high school elections. they re both just big popularity contests and the winner is whoever is cooler, whoever has a better campaign, whoever will buy us beer. and god bless the american voter for this. he doesn t and she doesn t get the credit they deserve. the american public are not that shallow. candidates matter of course and so do campaigns, but not that much. not as much as people often think. but you know what does matter thatch, what really drives these elections? the economy. the economy matters. the economy is swroerts look to understand whether the president is doing a good job or a
letter to her supporters that she too was passing on the race. governor palin wrote, i quote, i believe that at this time i can be more effective in a decisive role to help elect other true public servants to office. so watch out, untrue public servants. but the idea is big news. it is something not happening. again. these two events, or non-events as the case may be, are turning points in the narrative, in the story we tell ourselves about american politics. they mean some of the characters that the media was looking forward to covering won t be in the play. and other characters, i m looking at you, herman cain, will have an unexpected starring role. they mean the sarah palin story has come to an end, not with a bang but to steal a line from the new republic s walter shapiro with a pimp-out. but this is the truth. those two events this week they don t matter that much not if you re asking the question of which party will ultimately win the presidency in 2012, of who will really cont