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It's an old and much written about problem: campaign chicanery and corruption, now almost euphemistically called Political Mischief, a mild appellation for a serious and endemic fact of political life. Political Mischief is about the way political campaigns have been waged in the United States. More specifically, it concentrates on campaign practices and rhetoric, while holding both to vigorous modern standards.
Felknor, a former Director of the Fair Campaign Practices Committee, insists that both past and present politicians maintain an exacting standard. He is concerned not merely with detailing sleazy and illegal practices, but holds the campaigners to a standard he calls "truth and relevance of political argument" (p. xiv). He calls for an expanded citizenship role, much in the fashion of the League of Women Voters, arguing that a healthy democracy can...