>Russian presidents don't usually try to dance awkwardly on stage
Probably not in the case of Yeltsin though, who willingly jumped from the CPSU Olympus once (which was probably the only relatively bright moment in his career) and was fairly eccentric otherwise, especially when drunk.
I was one year short of the voting age back then, but I remember it very well. What you're saying is true, but you're only describing his "Vote or Lose" campaign. My impression was that he won mostly due to the support of the elites (aka oligarchs who owned the media) faced with the possibility of a communist president, not just because he paid the media. Also the support of other candidates, in particular he convinced Chernomyrdin and Nemtsov, fairly popular back then, to abstain from running for presidency in his favor, after they declared they would run for the office.
Regarding the US consultants, I think his only foreign consultant was Tim Bell, who was British, IIRC he didn't design Yeltsin's Vote or Lose since his experience wasn't directly applicable in Russia, it was Malashenko who designed it.
Thanks, this is a solid piece describing the amount and the source of money went into that campaign. It doesn't necessarily contradict what I was saying though - Yeltsin wouldn't have won without the oligarchs like Berezovsky or Gusinsky supporting him (and the money of course), there's also no way for him to win with either Nemtsov or Chernomyrdin running for the office, even with the campaign of that scale. And the article you linked seems to be skeptical about the role of those consultants as well.
Probably not in the case of Yeltsin though, who willingly jumped from the CPSU Olympus once (which was probably the only relatively bright moment in his career) and was fairly eccentric otherwise, especially when drunk.
I was one year short of the voting age back then, but I remember it very well. What you're saying is true, but you're only describing his "Vote or Lose" campaign. My impression was that he won mostly due to the support of the elites (aka oligarchs who owned the media) faced with the possibility of a communist president, not just because he paid the media. Also the support of other candidates, in particular he convinced Chernomyrdin and Nemtsov, fairly popular back then, to abstain from running for presidency in his favor, after they declared they would run for the office.
Regarding the US consultants, I think his only foreign consultant was Tim Bell, who was British, IIRC he didn't design Yeltsin's Vote or Lose since his experience wasn't directly applicable in Russia, it was Malashenko who designed it.