1982). Indeed, for all but four years between 1968 and 1992 (Jimmy Carter’s first term in the
White House), the voters delivered a split verdict in national elections, handing control of the
presidency to the Republicans and at least one congressional as well as most state and local
elections to the Democrats.
By the late 1980s, however, it appeared that the age of divided government had brought
not the decline but rather the metamorphosis of the American party system. Although partisan
loyalties in the electorate declined during the last 1960s and 1970s, parties did not simply wither
away. Beginning in the 1970s, party organizations underwent a transformation from locally-
based engines of mass mobilization to nationally-oriented “vendors” of services to congressional
and presidential campaigns (Aldrich 1995; Herrnson 1988). The new service parties were more
modest in their electoral import than their forebears, no longer controlling nominations, directing
campaigns, or providing the bulk of resources to candidates (Herrnson 1988; Reichley 2000;
Bibby 2002, 1998). Nonetheless, the parties appeared to have adapted to candidate-centered
campaigns, making themselves useful to legislative and presidential candidates. National parties
used the spoils of their successful direct mail operations to provide much-needed funding to
candidates (Shea 2003), assist in candidate fundraising efforts, help create campaign
advertisements (Herrnson 2002a:73), and aid in the development of issue and opposition
research (Reichley 2000: 302-303). The national parties also served candidates by advising them
on campaign strategy, voter attitudes and trends, and election laws (Herrnson 2002a: 72).
Organizational innovation during this period was also associated with a greater party
emphasis on programmatic politics, which reflected the demands of the more policy-oriented
electoral environment spawned by the rise of the administrative state. Increasingly, the national
parties engaged in activities, such as publishing public policy journals and distributing
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Convention