Presidential candidates are a breed apart, often propelled by traits that have shaped their careers and have deep roots in personal histories.Often their greatest strength can turn at supernova speed into their greatest weakness. The exact qualities that set them apart from the field trip them up eventually over the long haul of a presidential campaign.It was as a lifelong broadcaster that Mike Huckabee, the onetime "pastor on TV," perfected the conservative amiability that h...

The fourth and final eBook in POLITICO’s Playbook 2012 series once again provides an unprecedented minute-by-minute account of the race for the presidency. The End of the Line follows President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney as their campaign teams go all-in to win in the critical final weeks of the 2012 election.From Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” video to Clint Eastwood’s speech to an empty chair, the 2012 presidential campaign d...

Acclaimed journalist Jeffrey Toobin takes us into the chambers of the most important—and secret—legal body in our country, the Supreme Court, revealing the complex dynamic among the nine people who decide the law of the land. An institution at a moment of transition, the Court now stands at a crucial point, with major changes in store on such issues as abortion, civil rights, and church-state relations. Based on exclusive interviews with the justices and with a keen sense of the Court’s hi...

From the prizewinning author of The Nine, a gripping insider's account of the momentous ideological war between the John Roberts Supreme Court and the Obama administration.From the moment John Roberts, the chief justice of the United States, blundered through the Oath of Office at Barack Obama's inauguration, the relationship between the Supreme Court and the White House has been confrontational. Both men are young, brilliant, charismatic, charming, determ...

Two of America’s most perceptive political reporters join forces for an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the race for the White House in POLITICO’s Playbook 2012, a series of four instant digital books on the 2012 presidential election. The second edition, Inside the Circus, pulls back the curtain on the pursuit of the Republican nomination, as operatives jockey for position and strategists vie to fashion a message that can win over all factions of the frac...

From the bestselling author of The Battle for America 2008 and longtime Washington Post correspondent, an inside view and analysis of the Obama-Romney presidential raceIn 2008 a bright young candidate triumphed on a theme of change and hope. Four years later an embattled President struggled against an apocalyptically divided and divisive Congress, a war that won’t end, and an economy that casts a dark penumbra over every spark of good new...

Two of America’s most perceptive political reporters join forces for an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the race for the White House in POLITICO’s Playbook 2012, a series of four instant digital books on the 2012 presidential election. The first edition, The Right Fights Back, follows the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.The battle for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination promises to be one of the most hotly conte...

"Absorbing and fair-minded."— New York Times"Romney's story in full and clear detail…fascinating in-depth stuff."— Los Angeles Times"A fascinating story [that] sheds next light on an elusive subject."— Boston GlobeDespite his political prominence, Mitt Romney remains an enigma to many in America. Who is the man behind that sweep of dark hair and the high-wattage smile? A savvy politician or someone who will simply say ...

Why did Romney lose? How can Republicans win? In A Bad Day on the Romney Campaign, Gabriel Schoenfeld, a senior adviser to presidential nominee Mitt Romney for nearly two years, is the first insider to speak out about the failures of the 2012 campaign.Why did Romney lose? The book illuminates the chain of errors that ultimately contributed to Romney's defeat. Schoenfeld's original concept--zeroing in on a single gaffe on a single day: Romney's comments in t...

David Daley’s “extraordinarily timely” (New York Times Book Review) account uncovers the fundamental rigging of our House of Representatives and state legislatures nationwide.Lauded as a “compelling” (The New Yorker) and “eye-opening tour of a process that many Americans never see” (Washington Post), David Daley’s Ratf**ked documents the effort of Republican legislators and political operatives to hack American democracy through ...

Real Clear Politics’ first in a series of in-depth looks at the 2012 campaign.With unsurpassed access to the White House, Republican candidates, and their respective staffs, Election 2012: The Battle Begins will give readers a riveting behind the scenes, real time look at the 2012 campaign, providing in-depth reporting and analysis of the candidacies of President Barack Obama, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Michele Bachmann among others. With ...

A provocative history that reveals how guns—not abortion, race, or religion—are at the heart of America's cultural divide.Gunfight is a timely work examining America’s four-centuries-long political battle over gun control and the right to bear arms. In this definitive and provocative history, Adam Winkler reveals how guns—not abortion, race, or religion—are at the heart of America’s cultural divide. Using the landmark 2008 case District of Columbia v. ...