The rules have changed

Michael Barone writes in the Washington Examiner,

Over the 40-some years that I have been working or closely observing the political-campaign business, the rules of the game haven't changed much. Technology has changed the business somewhat, but the people who ran campaigns in the 1970s could have (and in some cases actually have) run them four decades later.

But suddenly this year the rules seemed to change. Let me try to count the ways.

1. Money doesn't seem to matter so much any more.

...2.TV spots don't matter so much any more, either.

...3. Celebrities don't count.

...4. Outrageous statements aren't disqualifying.
...As the Washington Examiner's Salena Zito, the reporter most alert to Trump's appeal, wrote, "The press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him serious, but not literally." Many voters are tired of being told they can't say things that are politically incorrect, like noting that terrorists are Islamic jihadists. They don't mind — they rather like it — when candidates do.

...5. Polling and big data don't automatically generate the right moves.

...6. Not being able to understand how the opposition thinks is huuuugely dangerous.

Read more here.