A New Window Into the 2012 Campaign

Charlie Cook: “By the end of a presidential campaign year, I’m sure I’m not the only political junkie who finally hits a saturation point and is very glad it’s over. While no one actually lives and breathes politics 24/7, or even every waking hour, for those totally immersed in that world, you do eventually hit the wall and don’t even want to think about it anymore.”

“But as predictable as that tipping point is for me, there is another point, when the dust has settled and someone comes out with a really first-rate chronicle of a campaign. This chronicle normally covers not just the ‘what happened, when, and why’–based on unparalleled access to the candidates, managers, strategists, and others–but also fills in holes that even the most devout political aficionados missed during the campaign, when we are all drinking out of a proverbial fire hose of information, data, and opinions. For the 2012 election, that book is now out. Washington Post chief correspondent Dan Balz’s new book, Collision 2012: Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America, is everything one would expect from the worthy successor to the mantle of Balz’s mentor, the late David Broder.”