Campaign for President: The Managers Look at 2008

Every four years, the Institute of Politics at Harvard University gathers the major players in the presidential election for several days of conversation about what happened and why. Those discussions are pulled together into a book that provides some unique insights from the managers of the various campaigns as well as an invaluable time line that details every major (and minor) event of the race that was. We were lucky enough to be invited to the 2008 version of this terrific tradition ― the only time the Fix ever has ever been invited to Harvard! ― but, if you weren’t, it’s well worth picking up the book. — Chris Cillizza, The Fix ― The Washington Post

For those political junkies who crave the behind-the-scenes details of the various campaigns, it doesn’t get much better than Campaign for President: The Managers Look at 2008 , the transcripts of a two-day gathering convened at Harvard’s Institute of Policy Studies in the immediate aftermath of the election. . . . It’s the raw footage of the campaign, the nit and grit, wihtout mediation by journalists or historians. — Geoffrey Dunn, award winning writer and filmmaker ― The Huffington Post, October 5. 2009

The 2008 election was a transformational election, as important a realignment as McKinley in 1896, FDR in 1932, and Ronald Reagan in 1980. It also brought us to a new era, from the industrial age to the communications age of American politics. If you want to understand these changes, from the inside, and where they will lead us, read this book. It’s what the campaign managers were thinking at crucial moments in one of the most important elections of our time. — Alex Castellanos, Republican media consultant and political commentator for CNN