The triumph of the Median Voter Theorem means that politicians no longer attempt to capture our votes by offering distinctive policies. They are therefore forced to distinguish themselves in other ways, by presenting themselves as less dishonest, better looking, more empathetic, or more sexually athletic for example.
Now we are into the an election campaign we are getting the same old tricks. Gordon Brown has captured the headlines by crying in the middle of his carefully scripted interview with Piers Morgan. Presumably Gordon was persuaded about this cynical act of exploitation of his dead child by none other than Alistair Campbell, who has been doing a bit of prime-time crying himself although presumably in his case it's just so that he can keep his name and face in the headlines to maximize his future income as a pundit, rather than in an attempt to get himself elected.
As in any branch of showbusiness, publicity is everything, which is why politicians need to spend so much of their energy on keeping the press on board. Piers Morgan himself, in his autobiography, was astonished at how often he was invited to lunch by Tony Blair when he was prime minister, and speculated how often his counterpart in the politically more important Sun would have been invited around to 10 Downing Street for tea and biscuits. It somehow seems very appropriate that Morgan's background is as a showbiz correspondent.
The result of all this is that we'll end up with more and more politicians that look and sound good delivering sound bites on TV, and less and less good at understanding the economy. I am not hopeful, but there are a lot of mordant bloggers around who have seen through this charade who, eventually, might have an impact on how people vote. I am not holding my breath though!
