Page 138 - Historical Dictionary of Political Communication in the United States

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SABATO, LARRY (1952- ) is a researcher and scholar in the area of Amer-
ican government and politics, particularly elections. He is perhaps the leading
scholar on the work of political consultants. Sabato has a Ph.D. from Queen's
College in Oxford. There he was a political lecturer. He then came back to the
United States to teach at the University of Virginia, where he had obtained his
bachelor's degree. His books include The Rise of Political Consultants, New
Ways of Winning Elections, and PAC Power: Inside the World of Political Ac-
tion Committees.
The Rise of Political Consultants is considered the foremost source on the
use of mass media and consultants in political campaigns. His recent interests
involve looking at the use of technology and advertising in political campaigns.
SOURCE: Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, vol. 27, 1989.
Jacqueline Nash Gifford
SAFIRE, WILLIAM (1929- ). Safire served in the Nixon White House as an
idea man and speechwriter. He is currently known as the influential, conservative
columnist for the New York Times and a self-styled "language maven."
Safire's life and work have several areas of relevance for students of political
communication. First, despite his emphasis on word craft, he was an early cre-
ator of the for-the-camera pseudoevent. He staged-managed the "kitchen de-
bate" between Vice President Richard Nixon and Russian premier Nikita
Khrushchev.
Second, Satire's columns and books, such as The New Language of Politics
and Political Dictionary, provide well-researched, lucid, and often humorous
insights into the construction of political phraseology, often tweaking the tor-
tured syntax of the powerful. Academic linguists, however, have called him a
"language shaman" for perpetuating a myth that one standard form of English
can be practiced.