Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson serve up the quintessential insider account of an election to remember with The Battle for America 2008
The following review was published yesterday at the books page of the History News Network.
We're often told that journalism is the first draft of history, but no one takes that truism more to heart than Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson. Balz, who covers politics for the Washington Post, is co-author of Deadlock, an extended piece of reporting on the 2000 election pub

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The authors portray a Clinton who improved as a campaigner even as her organization disintegrated, an Obama who was at least as impressive in his resilience in the aftermath of surprise defeats like the New Hampshire primary as he was in his string of victories, and a McCain who honored his true nature in rolling the dice with Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential candidate and lost because his bet because was not ready for prime time. (Speaking of which: this is also an account that has room for Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and a cameo appearance by Bruce Springsteen.) It was an election that began with anxiety and anger over the Iraq War, and one that ended with anxiety and anger at the state of the collapsing economy. The authors believe that McCain's erratic behavior in trying to manage a balky Republican coalition in the crisis that finally cost him the election.
It's worth emphasizing: this is very much an inside-the-beltway account. The principals pretty much say what you expect, though there is an element of novelty and value in that much of what they do say is directly to the authors, who had access to them during as well as after the campaign. They also avail themselves of pollster Peter Hart's focus group data, which gives them insight into the views of ordinary voters, though there is a bit of a freeze-dried feel to this material, as it has a literally clinical quality, as opposed to, say, field work. Their research stays largely focused on the professional players, and their account is almost ostentatious in its even-handedness. They allow themselves a single metaphorical parallel, involving the opening scene in which Obama is stranded on an airport runway, and a late one in which he jets in for a rally in Manassas, Virginia, site of the Civil War's first battle.
The Battle for America is a book built for immediate commercial impact, published by James Silberman of Viking Books, one of the grand old men of publishing. As such, it's not surprising that it's currently enjoying a stay on the New York Times bestseller list. But this may be a rare case of a book you that won't mind buying and never get around to reading for years, because its value is sure to grow with the passage of time. You'll read it and say, "Oh yeah! I forgot about that." And for those who will inevitably interpret -- and reinterpret -- what will almost surely be seen as a watershed election, this book will embody the conventional wisdom, whether as a source of credibility or an illustration of the problem, whatever that problem will be, in the way people understood what proved to be one of the more exciting events of our lifetimes.