One Car Caravan: The Amazing True Saga of the 2004 Democratic Race From its Humble Beginnings to the Boston Convention

One Car Caravan: The Amazing True Saga of the 2004 Democratic Race From its Humble Beginnings to the Boston Convention Walter Shapiro Date: 28 September, 2004   —   $11.20   —   Book product page Rating:

I had a lot of fun reading this book. The 2004 presidential election really was the wackiest campaign I've ever seen, and I've been paying attention since Muskie cried his way out of the '72 election. Shapiro's portrait of the 2004 Democratic contenders awakened a wry nostalgia of a wacky, exhilarating time when I discovered my political voice and Al Sharpton looked like a serious contender.

Shapiro's mission was to publish a portrait of the Democratic candidates before their personalities were subsumed by campaign managers, PR consultants, and media caricatures. By following these guys around from 2002 to early 2004, Shapiro gave us a look deep into the characters of Kerry, Dean, Edwards, Gephardt, Lieberman, and even Al Sharpton.

The only flaw with the concept is that Shapiro only writes about what he personally experienced. There's little mention of Kucinich or Clark, coverage of the mud-slinging and campaign strategies is minimal, and there's very little mention of what was happening in the US and the world at the time - it lacks context. Where the book shines, though, is in presenting an intimate portrait of Kerry, Edwards, and Lieberman as they try to get their campaigns off the ground.

The book is also an excellent primer for anyone who is interested in how presidential campaigns are started and funded. There's a lot of insight into the sausage factory known as American politics. For example, Shapiro passes along this interesting nugget about how campaign finance reform changed the way contributions are chased: In a world where donations are limited to $2k per head,

"Guys with a lot of money are now irrelevant," says Gregg Hymowitz, a Wall Street money manager who is national co-chairman of the Gephardt campaign. "What you want are guys with a lot of friends."

Shapiro also examines the the 24-hour news cycle as a campaign tool while watching Howard Dean insert himself into his opponent's press releases, "I read the [news] papers, call the office and we're on the news cycle in ninety minutes."

Reading the book more than a year after John Kerry and John Edwards won the Democratic nomination was a little odd, and if Shapiro hadn't gone back and covered the Democratic convention for the latest release of the book it would have been a bit pointless, but it was a fun read anyhow. Good times, good times...