Title: The running mate
First published: 2000
Description: "In The Running Mate, Klein takes the reader on a political journey with Senator Charlie Martin, a decorated veteran of the war in Vietnam. The experience of combat and his easy dominance of home-state politics have made Charlie fearless. He's a hot, if occasionally reckless, political property - dashing, honorable, and irreverent.".

"And then Charlie's life begins to fall apart. He campaigns for the presidency and fails. The wacky father of a volunteer decks him - in front of the cameras; a well-kept secret from Charlie's Vietnam days is revealed; he reluctantly finds himself at the center of a friend's cliff-hanging confirmation process for Secretary of Defense ...

And Senator Martin begins to learn that politics in an era of spin, marketing, and vicious personal assaults can be as treacherous - and life-threatening - as combat was.".

"Finally, Charlie Martin must confront the two greatest challenges of his life - a political opponent who has no scruples and a dazzling, unconventional woman who loves him but is appalled by his life's work. Charlie's dilemma is one that has come to haunt contemporary American politics: Is it possible to be a good politician and a good man, can you live in the public glare and still construct a habitable life?"--BOOK JACKET.
Subjects: Vietnam War, 1961-1975, Political fiction, Fiction, Legislators, Veterans
Places: United States
LC classification: PS3561.L347 R86 2000