I see attention only as the medium of the market place of ideas, the real currency is emotional satisfaction. Nobody would have voted for Trump in the primaries if they hadn't loved it so much when he straight-up bullied the hated establishment Republicans in front of a live audience. Nobody would have voted for Clinton if they hadn't heard her name a billion times on the news and through the "mere exposure effect" had an emotional attachment to her because of that. An in fact, nobody would have voted for let alone donated to Bernie if it hadn't felt so good to finally have somebody run for President who actually tries to transform the way American politics is done, and who wants to help all the right people, that is to say almost everyone.

Even if a candidate has great positions on the issues, but he can't convey a good feeling for the voter, if it just feels like you're voting for some highly efficient administrator (looking at you, Hillary. Seriously, who thought that was a good PR strategy?), then he's not going to get people excited to volunteer or donate, or in fact come out and vote for him.