For the first time in a quarter century of electoral politics, West German voters in 1972 gave a clear and decisive majority to a distinctly center-left government. As in 1969, the outcome indicates that the relationship between mass political style and regime norms, i.e., a competitive party system and alternating majoritarian party government, continues to grow stronger. Yet the 1972 campaign and election also saw the emergence of new elements in the West German political style: a "no holds barred" party struggle that produced a polarization unique in West German politics and an unprecedented politization and participation of mass publics in the electoral process.1 That these developments took place within a generally consen-