Strategist Shrum gives us an epic and personal story of the struggle for power in America during the past four decades. He vividly recounts the personalities and forces that shaped the outcome of the closest and most important elections of our time. We are there in the back rooms, on the planes, and in the motorcades with George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Ted Kennedy, Al Gore, John Kerry, John Edwards, and Bill and Hillary Clinton. Shrum reveals the manipulations and limitations of old and new forms of political persuasion, from the historic and sometimes controversial speeches he wrote to the negative ads he created, from prepping presidential nominees for critical debates to the deployment of the new political weapon, the Internet. Shrum argues that unlike Republicans from Reagan on, Democrats fall short, politically or in office, when they trim their convictions and walk away from fundamental issues--like universal health coverage. --From publisher description.