He managed to hit all the keys on the great American political piano. [about Michael Dukakis's acceptance speech]

"People have the illusion that all over the world, all the time, all kinds of fantastic things are happening. When in fact, over most of the world, most of the time, nothing is happening."

This is the first convention of the space age where a candidate can promise the moon and mean it.

He managed to hit all the keys on the great American political piano.

They use [how much] money they've spent as a measure of success because there's very little else to measure.