Will 2020 Dim the Myth of the Campaign Guru?

David Hopkins: “The quadrennial celebration of the key strategists behind the winning candidate as unrivaled masters of the political arts usually reflects an assumption that the outcome proved them to be savvier or more ruthless than their counterparts in the losing camp. But most of the time, there are equally smart and tough people on both sides of a race. One competitor will inevitably be elected and the other defeated—it’s the nature of the business—but that doesn’t mean that the winners are always geniuses and the losers always incompetents.”

“Interestingly, the 2020 election may be the first in a while that has not generated substantial press coverage of the top professional staffers in the two major presidential campaigns.”