Political consulting is not a wholly new enterprise. Advisers have provided services informally to politicians for centuries. In recent years, however, political consulting has become increasingly formalized. Sabato (1981) offers an operational definition of contemporary political consultants: a campaign professional who is engaged primarily in the provision of advice and services (such as polling, media creation and production, direct mail fundraising) to candidates, their campaigns, and other political committees. Fueled primarily by developments in the United States, the political consulting industry experienced tremendous growth in the 20th century since the establishment of the first modern political consulting firm in 1934 (Friedenberg 1997; Baumgartner 2000; Thurber and Nelson 2000; Lathrop 2003; Plasser and Plasser 2002). Presidential candidates have sought the expertise of political marketing professionals consistently since Alfred Landon's 1936 campaign (Baumgartner 2000). Since 1969, when Joseph Napolitan (who had worked on Hubert Humphrey's campaign in 1968) founded the American Association of Political Consultants with 25 members, the organization has grown substantially, currently boasting over 4,000 members. (Baumgartner [2000] estimates the number of political consultants across the United States to exceed 35,000.) This proliferation of political consultants instigated the formation of an industry that has become increasingly specialized and professionalized (Thurber 1998; Baumgartner 2000).