Race of a Lifetime: How Obama Won the White House

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Penguin Books Limited, Oct 6, 2011 - Political Science - 464 pages

Forget everything you think you know about the making of the most powerful man on the planet. President Barack Obama's triumph was not inevitable: it was the end product of a brilliant, calculated, convention-defying political campaign. In a race that will be talked about for years to come, he faced down his rivals with ruthless focus and efficiency.

Race of a Lifetime is the gripping inside story of those thrilling months: from the meteoric rise of Obama and the collapsing House of Clinton to the erratic John McCain and the bewildering Sarah Palin.

Brimming with exclusive revelations, this compulsively readable book lays bare the characters of the candidates, warts and all; exposes the inner workings of their operations; and charts the true path to the White House. It's a tour de force: the sometimes shocking, often funny, and ultimately definitive account of the campaign of a lifetime.

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About the author (2011)

John Heilemann and Mark Halperin are two of the most acclaimed political reporters in the United States, with unrivalled access to the presidential candidates and their teams throughout the campaign. John Heilemann is the national political correspondent and columnist for New York magazine. He is a National Magazine Award finalist, and a former staff writer for the New Yorker, the Economist, and Wired. Mark Halperin is editor-at-large and senior political analyst for Time, founding editor of The Page on time.com, and former political director of ABC News.