Deadlock: The Inside Story of America's Closest Election [Hardcover]

The Political Staff of the Washington Post (Author), David Von Drehle (Author), Joel Achenbach (Author), Mike Allen (Author), Dan Balz (Author), Jo Becker (Author), David Broder (Author), Ceci Connolly (Author), Claudia Deane (Author), Helen Dewar (Author), Thomas B. Edsall (Author), Juliet Eilperin (Author), James V. Grimaldi (Author), Robert G. Kaiser (Author), Dan Keating (Author), Howard Kurtz (Author), Charles Lane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 2001

The Washington Post, America's premier newspaper for politics and elections, has been in the forefront of the post-election coverage, and in this book its award-winning staff provides the first full-length account of the closest and strangest election in our history -- from the last frantic days of campaigning to the networks' premature election-night projections; from the "butterfly ballot" to the manual recounts; from the first legal challenges to the final adjudication. The Post has offered unsurpassed coverage of the events that transfixed the nation and the world, and now its all-star team of reporters has produced a page-turner to rival the best political thrillers.

Deadlock is a wholly original work of history-in-the-making, written by David Von Drehle and Ellen Nakashima, two of the paper's most accomplished political writers, drawing on the reporting of over two dozen top reporters and columnists in Washington, Florida, and Texas

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

While we may never know the real story or outcome of the 2000 presidential campaign, this excellent and timely book by the political staff of the Washington Post gives a detailed account of the post-election fiasco in Florida (dangling, dimpled, and pregnant "chads" and all). As events careened back and forth on a daily, even minute-by-minute, basis, it was nearly impossible to keep up with the dramatically changing elements of the story. But this book helps the reader sort through the confused and confusing undergrowth to see the political maneuvering, the personalities, the legal wrangling, and the logistical nightmares at work in this 36-day tumultuous battle for Florida's electoral votes and the presidency. In the midst of the "fog of war," both sides tried to manipulate the legal and political setting to achieve their short-term goals (in Al Gore's case, to count votes; in George W. Bush's case, to delay all vote counting). While this book is disappointing in its sketchy analysis of the all-important Supreme Court case that finally handed the election to Bush, it is nonetheless an excellent and important work that will become a classic. Michael A. Genovese, Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This isn't quite an instant book; it took about the same time to be published as the 2000 presidential election took to be decided. And though light on context, the narrative, written by the political staff of the Washington Post , is heavy on facts; anyone who wants to know what really happened during those 37 days of waiting for a president will find plenty of information here. The gossipy, behind-the-scenes stuff is the most interesting, but there's not as much of it as curious readers might want: we do learn, however, that on election night it was G. W. who called Jeb Bush "little brother" before Gore did. Mostly, though, there is a lot of talk here about lawyers, plenty about counting techniques, and, just as in the election, too much about chads. What readers will see is how Gore came to lose an election he in fact may have won: by conceding, however briefly, thus giving the impression that Bush was the winner; by getting into a tangle over votes from the military stationed overseas; and by having the misfortune to be in "little brother's" state. Jeb Bush immediately enlisted the help of the best Florida law firms, giving the Bush team a leg up when it came to having those in the local know on their side. A useful first draft of history. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs; 1st PublicAffairs ed edition (March 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586480804
• ISBN-13: 978-1586480806
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,160,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Thomas Byrne Edsall is an online columnist for the New York Times and a correspondent for The New Republic. He holds the Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Chair in Public Affairs Journalism at Columbia University. He joined the full-time faculty at Columbia in 2006 after a twenty-five year career at The Washington Post. During that time, he covered all aspects of national politics, including presidential elections, the House and Senate, lobbying, tax policy, demographic trends, social welfare, and the politics of race and ethnicity.

Edsall served in 2006 as a guest columnist for the print edition of the New York Times. Before he came to the Washington Post he reported for The Baltimore Sun and The Providence Journal. He has covered politics for The National Journal, and has contributed TV and radio commentary to CNN, CSPAN, MSNBC, PBS, FOX, and NPR.

Edsall is the author of five books: The Age of Austerity (2012); Building Red America (2006); Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race, Rights, and Taxes on American Politics (2005); Power and Money: Writing About Politics (1988); and The New Politics of Inequality (1984).

He is also the editor of or contributor to a number of other books: Red and Blue Nation? Characteristics and Causes of America's Polarized Politics, contributor (2006); Varieties of Progressivism in America, contributor, 2004; Deadlock: The Inside Story of America's Closest Election (2001); Present Discontents, contributor (1997); The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order 1930-1980, contributor, (1989); The Reagan Legacy, (co-editor and contributor) (1988).

Edsall has written extensively for magazines, with articles appearing in American Prospect, The Atlantic Monthly, Civilization, Dissent, Harper's, The Nation, The National Journal, The New Republic, The New York Review of Books, the Washington Monthly.

Edsall's 1992 book Chain Reaction was a Pulitzer finalist in general non-fiction. His awards include the Carey McWilliams Award of the American Political Science Association, the Bill Pryor Award and the Front Page Award of the Newspaper Guild, a yearlong fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and several Media Fellowships at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Edsall attended Brown University and received a B.A. from Boston University.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Long and Very Good Newspaper Article, April 23, 2001

By 

ROBERT S PREECE - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deadlock: The Inside Story of America's Closest Election (Hardcover)

Deadlock: The Inside Story of America's Closest Election is a workmanlike and emotionless recollection of the events surrounding the most controversial election of the past 100 years. It is a well organized, easy to follow and not visibly biased view of the relevant events leading up to and following the November 7 Presidential election. Seemingly accurate and double checked to a fault, reading this book left me with the impression that I had just read an excellent 275 page newspaper article and not much more. With almost no humor, lacking any sidebar comments, it is a book Joe Friday would be proud to call his own. While I am a Texan and Bush supporter, I much preferred Jake Tapper's Down & Dirty: The Plot to Steal the Presidency. I guess this means that like most people, when push comes to shove, I'd rather be entertained than informed. I do regret this intellectual weakness and like some of the votes in Florida I may change. But probably not in the next 36 days.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear Presentation of the Facts, March 12, 2001

By 

Pragmatist (Minneapolis, Mn USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Deadlock: The Inside Story of America's Closest Election (Hardcover)

This is a clear and factual account of what happened in Florida. Though the final chapters of that episode are still being written as we discover more about what the ballots were really like, this is about as balanced an account as one can get this soon after the events. Some will (one reader obviously already does) find the facts inconvenient, but this is a necessary first step in building the historical record under which both Mr. Gore and Mr. Bush will be judged.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars must reading, March 17, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Deadlock: The Inside Story of America's Closest Election (Hardcover)

Even though the reader knows the outcome of this book, it reads like a political novel. What makes it even better is that there are reporters and interviewers with established reputations who have helped put the facts together. I suppose whether or not one likes this book depends on one's political views, but in my opinion it cannot be criticized for being slanted - the facts are the facts!