The problem that political junkies like Maher have is that they forget that not everyone is like them. Most people pay very little attention to politics and the news, and so if a politician is in the news constantly, most people are barely hearing about him or her.
I heard Bill Clinton talk about this once, back in 1996. I'd become so sick of his "Bridge to the 21st Century" slogan, and all the other mindless, empty catch phrases he was throwing around every third sentence that I was starting to worry that he'd lose the election just based on people being absolutely sick of the broken record. But then I saw something where he was talking about message discipline, and how, since most people barely tune in to politics, by the time you've said something so often that the words have lost all meaning to you, it's only then just beginning to sink in for the wider public. I think it's the same with politicians contemplating a run for the presidency. Political amateurs think the politicians are getting "overexposed" and that it'll backfire, yet the political pros keep sending their candidates in front of the public every single chance they get, because they have a more sophisticated understanding of the public, and how little engaged they are. To win the swing voters --the least informed, least engaged group of voters-- overexposure is the only exposure.
