Downs (1957) created the foundations of the classical model. But Downs clearly saw the need for a more comprehensive model. He tried hard to build better assumptions into his discussion of politics. As John Ferejohn points out:

The spatial metaphor has by now become such a common and powerful way of portraying electoral competition that students and journalists unselfconsciously depict electoral phenomena in its terms, without recognizing either its limitations or its foundational assumptions. But in his original introduction of the spatial model Downs is actually quite cautious with regard to the applicability of the spatial theory to actual elections. He spends a good deal of effort and space in his book examining the conditions under which electoral competition could be understood in terms of the spatial model.