“The Permanent Campaign” was written by Norman J. Ornstein and Amy S. Mitchell. This article appeared first in The World & I, in January 1997. Norman Ornstein is regarded as one of our nation’s foremost experts on Congress. Mr. Ornstein received a Ph.D.. from the University of Michigan, he writes for the NewYork Times, USA Today, Washington Post, and he has a regular column in Roll Call newspaper called “Congress Inside Out”. Mr. Ornstein is also an election analyst for CBS and appears frequently on television shows including the Today Show, Nightline and the Mac Neil/Lehre News Hour where he has been a