The Phantom Race

Call it Politics Lite, with lots of froth and little annoying substance

The romanticized myths that surround a modern presidential campaign die hard. The nation still clings to the notion that the race to the White House is an endurance contest between two candidates -- their voices cracking, their faces haggard from exhaustion -- who somehow summon the strength to inspire one more crowd, to frame one more argument and to shake one more outstretched hand. This peripatetic image befits the John Kennedy of 1960. On Labor Day 28 years ago, Kennedy attended a union breakfast, dropped by the Michigan State Fair, addressed 60,000 people jammed into Cadillac Square in Detroit, stumped at...

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