Sentence:  They went to work deliberately to <WSD>Barnumize</WSD> their prospective candidate. No "prima donna" was ever more thoroughly exploited by her Hebrew "impresario". The papers swarmed with anecdotes, incidents, sayings. Nothing was too unimportant, and the new commander-in-chief pulled on his boots by telegram from Maine to California, and picked his teeth by special dispatch from the Associated Press. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To promote with bombast, exaggeration, or outright falsehood; to hype or sensationalize.