American local governments were not planned according to some grand design. Rather, they grew in response to a combination of citizen demand, interest group pressure, and state government acquiescence. As a consequence, no rational or easily understood system of local governments exists

Think about the American Idol example in the Are You Equipped? section at the beginning of the chapter. By the judges giving their expert opinions on contestants' performances, they are communicating to the audience how we should vote

Thus, __________ is a threat to internal validity. a. diffusion of treatments b. instrumentation c. placebo effect d. demand characteristics

Why do politicians value appearing on soft news and infotainment shows?

a. They get to select the questions they wish to answer in advance. b. They get a chance to interact with a homogenous audience. c. They prefer to reach fewer voters at a time. d. They receive fewer difficult questions.