… If you believe the conventional wisdom about elections, the pivotal moments in presidential campaigns come in the last 50 days or so.
The only problem with this claim is that by the time Ronald Reagan chortled and said, “There you go again” to Jimmy Carter, or Michael Dukakis hopped in that tank and ground the gears, nearly all of the people who would turn out to vote in November had long since made up their minds. So how pivotal can these moments be? [cont.]
Lynn Vavreck, U.C.L.A. (NYT)