Congress and the Constant Campaign: Survival Politics and the New Breed The campaign is never over. —Robert Squier, media consultant Well before the five-hour hearing began one September morning in 1985, there were the telltale signs of a major media event. Unusually large crowds of young people lined the columned hallways of the old Russell Senate Office Building to wait for seats. Several television crews set up video monitors and sound equipment in the hallways. The hearing room quickly filled to overflowing. Inside, it was almost impossible to move. The press tables were jammed. Capitol guards, in starched white shirts, manned the doors. The audience, which had come for a show, was in a boisterous mood at the prospect of the Senate Commerce Committee scrutinizing the seamy, sinful side of rock music. Senator Jack Danforth, the committee chairman, warned against applause and demonstrations. The hearing, he said, was not to consider legislation but merely “to provide a forum for airing the issue.”
