(9) The process of selecting policy alternatives is not random, however. Within the policy stream, Kingdon has argued that there are two important aspects to understanding how alternatives move from the primordial soup to being a viable policy option: l) through "softening up" ; and 2) through "coupling" (1995, 200-201). Policy specialists in the hidden cluster, interest groups, and even academics and researchers can help to soften up the agenda to ensure favorable political receptivity. As Kingdon noted, the softening up process is critical in terms of determining whether a policy actually reaches the government agenda. The coupling process is the ability to link alternatives with problems. For elected officials, policy alternatives must be justified in terms of costs and benefits, with particular attention to core constituencies, and must also be workable solutions to the problem. Although many good ideas may be floating around among policy specialists, without a specific problem, they are unlikely to reach the government agenda.