Description
True Tales from the Campaign Trail finds Democratic and Republican political consultants putting aside their differences to offer entertaining and honest insights into the art of the political campaign. First-hand accounts from across the spectrum detail the trials and tribulations of primaries for Ted Kennedy, Oliver North, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton; fraught Senate races fought with direct mail; and down-and-dirty tricks pulled in local elections. The variety of funny foibles and lessons learned makes for an engaging celebration of the democratic process and the campaign trail.
True Tales from the Campaign Trail, Volume II is a compilation of great campaign anecdotes from experienced political consultants, Democratic and Republican, and other great storytellers. Many of the stories are funny. Many of the stories give you a behind-the-scenes view of what happens in campaigns when the camera is off and the reporters have put down their laptops, and all of these stories are stories that only an insider could tell. Anyone with any curiosity about how political campaigns are run and won will enjoy this book.
About the author
Advance praise for True Tales from the Campaign Trail, Vol. II
This second collection by Jerry Austin of stories from the campaign trail is a fun read, with some important implicit messages for students of politics woven throughout. The first-hand accounts from different perspectives – operatives, candidates, reporters, and others – tell about the rich variation in US campaign politics, with accounts from urban and rural America, all regions, and contests ranging from the most obscure to the presidency. These accounts span decades, but some things are timeless: failures are as instructive as successes, and campaigns revolve around people, sometimes ones who would appear to have no overt connection to the political world. There’s a particularly good takeaway for this current era with its celebration of data, analytics and the science of campaigns: Politics is every bit art as it is science. And for scholars and students, these accounts offer real-word grist for their understanding of campaign politics.
—Barb Trish, Professor, Grinnell College
Every campaign is nothing more than a story, a snapshot of our time. And the best storytellers are the people who work on the campaigns. The tales in this book will touch your heart and make you laugh out loud.
—Nan Whaley, Mayor of Dayton, Ohio
