It was inspired in 1934 by the unlikely (and nearly successful) race for governor of California starring famed muckraking author -- and socialist -- Upton Sinclair, and I wrote a whole book about it 15 years ago. It pointed the way from the "smoked filled" room to Madison Avenue, and marked the arrival of political consultants and other "spin doctors," and the first political attacks ads on the screen -- in this case, the movie screen, in shorts made by (gulp) Irving Thalberg. I have a new column up at E&P and you can see a few minutes of a PBS film on the campaign drawn from my book in the video right below.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003695457
Clip from that PBS film, from "The Great Depression" series, on the Sinclair campaign:
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