The picture of the modern campaign which is in All in the Family is nearly as good as that of the old fashioned campaign in The Last Hurrah. If it is less colorful it is because the Electronic Era campaign is less colorful itself than that of the old days. One of the finest and most notable parts of the picture of the new campaign deals with the role of intellectuals in politics.

Most politicians, even those of the new Ivy League breed like the Kinsellas, just don't take politically active intellectuals seriously and most of the intellectuals know this. But as one Kinsella said, "they are a little like party hacks; they may not much like what's happening to them, but where else are they going to go?"

Party Hacks

Incidentally, O'Connor should have gotten rid of the two party hacks, Edso and Walshie, who float, without any apparent purpose, through the novel. O'Connor's main characters are witty enough and these two grotesques merely detract from the book. I suspect some profit minded editor at Atlantic-Little Brown urged O'Connor to thread them through All in the Family as a guarantee of high sales.

Massachusetts politics, despite the changes in campaign style, haven't changed that much from the old days, according to O'Connor. It may look different but it still is vicious. And the characters in All in the Family are far more explicit about what troubles the state than are any of the characters in the other books. After denouncing his brother's attempts at reform, Phil cries out to his cousin:

"Look, nothing, absolutely nothing, of the slightest permanent value can be done for this state unless you first get rid of the grubs who've been munching it to death for years."

What's horrifying about All in the Family is the implication that the grub-chasers themselves, those bright young men, those Ivy League Irish, turn into grubs themselves upon entering the State House or the City Hall.