4.5, actually.

One Line Summary: The ins and outs, ups and downs of the historic 2008 presidential election.

I loved this book! It was so insightful and it's one of those non-fiction books that reads like a novel. It was so intriguing to find out the inner workings of the McCainworld, Hillarlyland, and the Obamans. It made me very glad that I've never had any desire for public office. Politics is a brutal world and you have to have pretty thick skin to go anywhere within it.

McCain was an interesting person to learn more about...I learned he has quite the mouth on him (maybe due to his military time), and some anger issues...but that could be a result of being tortured and held hostage for a bit...I also came to feel a bit of sympathy for Sarah Palin. The choice to have her as McCain's running mate was a rash decision that really destroyed Palin. His campaign people pretty much left her out to dry once they found out more about her and the press attacked her relentlessly.

I also became really glad that John Edwards didn't make too much of a splash this time around. Not the most upstanding guy in politics or Rudy Guiliani, for that matter....

It was great to see how Obama's campaign people pulled it all together to get the win. There were a lot of bumps and bruises on the way, especially with Hillary and Bill Clinton. It was all out war between him and them. I was glad to see some of the reparation that happened after Obama became president and she accepted her post as Secretary of State.

This was a fast-paced, informative book and I loved every minute of it. It's amazing to get insight into this historic presidential race. Pick it up and give it a read, you won't be sorry!

While this book has both the Democrats and Republicans in the title it is the story of the Obama campaign for the Whitehouse, the Republicans were added so that something could be written about Sarah Palin. None of the major players comes off looking good other than Joe Lieberman, Al Gore and oddly George W. Bush. The toughest part about reading this book was that the things that get votes are the exact opposite of what I would hope they would be, money buys votes, sound bites and celebrity influence voters more than substance and actions, it's disheartening how politics works. That said this book was highly readable although easy to criticize for being filled with material from anonymous sources.

Enthralling political gossip. Recommended for everyone who is interested in American politics (in other words viewers of The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and The West Wing).

Such gossipy guilty pleasure, and great as an audiobook. I can't say it caused any major revelations or changes in my thinking about the 2008 elections, but it was totally fun.

Heilemann and Halperin have an accessible and easy to get into writing style. They shine a light on the behind the scenes play that is a political campaign revealing the good, bad, ugly and stupid. I read their second Game Change book before I read this, their first and knew I wanted to go back and read it. Then I saw the HBO movie based on the parts of this book and knew I had to go back and read it......rest of the review can be found here--> http://maybesbooks.blogspot.com/2014/02/game-change-obama-and-clintons-mccain.html

Interesting look into the inner world of the major campaigns of 2008: McCain, Obama, Clinton, and Edwards. About 2/3 of this book is about the primaries and mostly the Democratic ones. Obama came across quite poorly, looking like an arrogant douchebag who thought the presidential campaign would be easy and angry at those who fought hard or did not act his way. Hillary came across very well, surprisingly, with real emotions. Her loss seems attributable to rivalry and infighting, similar to McCain. Edwards was kind of a separate story with no ties to the other three leads. The movie followed the book pretty well.

Strengths: Neutral enough, interesting writing, accurate (?)
Problems: extremely obscure diction and lack of sources (one person in the book actually decried a news source having so many anonymous sources which I think is a problem with the book too)

Really enjoyed this book, especially as I tend to have a harder time reading non-fiction. Wished there were more chapters dedicated to McCain and Palin and their behind the scenes crap, but a great read nonetheless.

Taught me things that I didn't read about in other books about the 2008 election. Always a good book when you learn some new facts. Kept me interested until the very last sentence. Fitting finish to include Hillary in the final pages. Great book for anyone interested in the hidden part of the 2008 election.


4.5

A fascinating, heavily detailed narrative of the nearly singular, certainly historic 2008 presidential campaign, "Game Change" views its cast with an omnipresent eye and strongly critical gaze. Detailing Obama's unprecedented self-confidence, Clinton's poorly matched handlers, Edwards's half-ignorant, half-willful self-destruction, and the assembly of McCain's ideologically bipolar ticket, "Game Change" is completely riveting, end to end. Despite its audience knowing how the election cycle will play out, the book provides a page turner, detailing the best and worst of the personalities dominating the election. A well researched account of a fascinating, one-in-a-lifetime election year, whose repercussions are still unfolding.