Books in Brief: The Invisible Primary

The Invisible Primary, by Arthur T. Hadley (Prentice-Hall, 317 pp., $10.95). In the burlesque that is our political process, the presidential primary has come to be the quintessential striptease. As the candidates bump and grind their way from state to state, they wrap their operations in glitter and present them with a clever choreography designed to dazzle audiences; this footwork has become so slick of late that it may eventually render the nominating conventions anti-climactic bores. Hadley maintains that the race for the White House has developed into a continuous spectacle: no sooner is the election completed than another scramble begins. Accordingly, he began to track the contestants for the “invisible primary” on November 8, 1972, when Senator Percy purchased the services of a campaign firm. Any successful show requires organization, rehearsals, and a bankroll: since the new election law is so sticky about the latter, it becomes essential to launch a shakedown cruise to see if the showboat will float. Notwithstanding the over 350 public relations firms currently specializing in politicians, most of these ventures run aground. Although Hadley’s thesis is interesting, his forte is observation. His keen nose for balderdash and his irreverent sense of the absurd make this book a must. A sample of Hadley’s wit is apropos. Covering the darling of the populists, he recalls the allegations that Gulf had slipped Fred Harris a sizable contribution in 1964. Hadley reminds us that despite his inveighing against the oil interests, Senator Harris subsequently voted, not only to restore but to increase the depletion allowance. The author purrs, “Maybe, as he claimed, he hadn’t been bought; but the suspicion remained that he might have been rented.”