Ostensibly, the replacement of the politicians with direct primaries was designed to put the task of nominating candidates into the hands of the voters. But things were not that simple. Someone had to mediate between the voters and the candidates. The mediating role was taken on by the press. The problem, Patterson argues, is that the press does not operate on the basis of political values but by journalistic values.
Political values are different.
In particular, Patterson is right to emphasize that for all the attention journalists pay to broken promises, the fact is that victorious candidates tend to govern much as they promised to during their campaigns. Patterson cites political scientist Gerald Pomper's important finding that party platforms are actually a rather good guide to how politicians will govern. The problem is that he is so fixed on journalists that he forgets his point that journalistic values are different from political values. His opening example is typical. He cites a piece by CBS's Eric Engberg criticizing Clinton for being so slow to take a stand during the campaign on the final negotiated version of the North American Free Trade Agreement.