The bally-hoo of American politics. Should American political advertising have to pass the same scrutiny as commercial advertising? Dewey was a scientific demagogue. Before speaking on major issues, he used research to find out which policies had the widest popular support and then put them forward as if he believed in them. 4 In his book The Duping of the American Voter, my colleague Robert Spero analyzed the commercials used by Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter. He concluded that they were ‘the most deceptive, misleading, unfair and untruthful of all advertising … the sky is the limit with regard to what can be said, what can be promised, what accusations can be made, what lies can be told’. The nine Federal agencies which regulate advertising for products have no say in political advertising. The broadcasting networks, which turn down half the commercials for products submitted to them because they violate their codes, do not apply any code whatever to political commercials. Why not? Because political advertising is considered