No Way to Pick a President
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T)
Published: November 1999
Language: eng
Number of pages: 303
ISBN-13: 9780374223038
First sentence: Every American mother likes to think that her son (or, nowadays, her daughter) can become president.
Description: "Never before has so much money poured into a presidential campaign as is flowing into the election of 2000. Jules Witcover, who has covered every election since 1952, here combines unparalleled knowledge about presidential politics with a wise analysis of what's wrong with the way American presidents are chosen.

He shows us, in memorable and dramatic detail, how professional mercenaries - with little party loyalty and diminished political principles, driven by an insatiable need for money and skewed priorities - are corrupting American public life. At the same time, he shows how television dramatically, even destructively, distorts the election process, discouraging voter participation and dissuading some of our most promising public figures from seeking high office."--BOOK JACKET.