Nor is he one of those happy retail politicians who derives popularity from attending local events, shaking hands, and flashing a friendly smile.
"Anwar derived his popularity from being a victim, from being in prison," a political scientist, Chandra Muzaffar, said.
The college game has always derived its popularity as much from intangibles as on-field performance: traditions, rivalries, nostalgia for fraternity life.
(The London-born "Mamma Mia!" is a smash too, but it derives its popularity from its familiar Abba tunes).
Now we have not only a contest for president that gets considerable coverage for its "cool kid versus geek" dynamic, but also one of the most successful television shows in history deriving its popularity from the suspense over who will be voted off the island by a group of peers.
Anyway, this represent neither of these camps but derives its popularity in a similar way.
But its popularity derived mainly from Hebrew wordplay, and the English production became an expensive flop.
Since then he has basked in popularity derived from sunny economic times and well-designed social policies.
A good old-style blockbuster, handsomely presented, vaguely serious, its popularity derived largely from the presence of many Caravaggios, although its lasting value and most decent purpose was to impress on the public the diverse gifts of less well-known painters like Carlo Saraceni, Paul Bril and Giovanni Lanfranco.
Still, considering how much of his popularity derived from vocal parodies of Tin Pan Alley detritus, one is inclined to echo his trademark meditation: "One never knows, do one?" Waller's comedy has grown in stature; critics no longer write of it defensively, blaming RCA Victor, his record label (and Miller's), for forcing him into the role of jester.
