Hats in the Ring: An Illustrated History of American Presidential Campaigns"America suffers from a sort of intermittent fever. . . . Every fourth year there come terrible shakings, passing into the hot fit of the presidential election; then follows what physicians call 'the interval'; then the fit again." James Bryce, The American Commonwealth, 1888 Once every four years, Americans enter into a months long national spectacle, one with bitter battles, high drama, often hilarious blunders, and, ultimately, a victor to whom we