Letter from Washington: Letter from Newark

Step through the time warp and you’re right in the middle of the Bill Bradley campaign. Remember charisma? Remember when the Federal Government could do much more? Remember when union labor was victimized by management? Remember enthusiasm for new Cabinet departments? This campaign is so quaintly old-fashioned it should be an exhibit at Old Sturbridge Village.

But give Bradley some credit. He has picked the right state. Bill Bradley was an All-American at Princeton and a member of championship teams with the New York Knicks. He is, the polls suggest, the best-known white basketball player in New Jersey. And that just might be enough to win him a Senate seat from this curious state. For New Jersey may be the last major state with a pre-electronic-media style of politics. It has within its borders not a single commercial television station. Thus, if a candidate seeks to make himself and his views well-known, he must buy time from out-of-state broadcasters, in New York and Philadelphia. One glance at a map confirms how much damage this can inflict on a campaign budget: the candidate must pay for three viewers from New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania for every voter from New Jersey.

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Step through the time warp and you’re right in the middle of the Bill Bradley campaign. Remember charisma? Remember when the Federal Government could do much more? Remember when union labor was victimized by management? Remember enthusiasm for new Cabinet departments? This campaign is so quaintly old-fashioned it should be an exhibit at Old Sturbridge Village.

But give Bradley some credit. He has picked the right state. Bill Bradley was an All-American at Princeton and a member of championship teams with the New York Knicks. He is, the polls suggest, the best-known white basketball player in New Jersey. And that just might be enough to win him a Senate seat from this curious state. For New Jersey may be the last major state with a pre-electronic-media style of politics. It has within its borders not a single commercial television station. Thus, if a candidate seeks to make himself and his views well-known, he must buy time from out-of-state broadcasters, in New York and Philadelphia. One glance at a map confirms how much damage this can inflict on a campaign budget: the candidate must pay for three viewers from New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania for every voter from New Jersey.