The Campaign Doctors by Nicholas Lemann T he nonfiction book that both tells a story and explains an important subject is a noble cause, but elusive. A presidential campaign, though, ought to be a perfect subject for a book that is meant both to spin a yarn and to make a point. Theodore H. White's The Making of the President 1960, though a little dated today by its benign view of authority figures, proved that this potential could be realized.
Every novelist has, as they say in journalism, total access.
In particular it's a testament to how difficult life has become for people trying to work the white lode these days. The Making of the President, by proving how interesting campaigns could be, helped bring about a tremendous increase in the size of the campaign press corps. There were 5,500 reporters at the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles in 1960, and there were 14,000 reporters in San Francisco in 1984. They're also the world's best sources. They're on the inside, they follow the press closely enough to know the kind of material reporters are desperate for, and they're accessible.