What It Takes on the Campaign Trail with the Boys on the Bus

"Historians and historical political scientists who write about elections have a different take on elections than most journalists. On the one hand, scholars downplay the notion that the specific candidates and their campaigns have as big an impact on the outcome as journalists suggest. While the election narratives stress the horse race between candidates, scholars point to broader forces that move the electorate at the ballot box. Indeed, in the most recent election, a majority of political scientists agreed that President Bush's abysmal approval ratings combined with the poor economic conditions dictated that almost any competent Democrat would have won."

Julian E. Zelizer in The Nation traces the evolution of campaign histories by journalists from The Making of the President in 1961 to Game Change in 2009.