Customer Reviews

Hillary's Turn: Inside Her Improbable, Victorious Senate Campaign

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I'm very much involved in New York State politics - yet I learned much from this insightful and thoroughly enjoyable book. HILLARY'S TURN is written almost like a series of news articles. Even the layout of the cover suggests that the book is merely a hardbound tabloid. Indeed, news coverage of the campaign is one of the book's main themes. The effect is to move the action of the book along in a dramatic and concise manner. Tomasky doesn't stop much to reflect, which seems somehow ironic considering his portrayal of most of the players as unreflective. But that's fine because as campaign accounts go, this one is all action.

Tomasky's three major characters are Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giulliani and Rick Lazio. He somehow manages to paint them all in a fairly good light, while dramatizing their oddest characteristics. He seems particularly fascinated by Giulliani, who he claims did the "most bizarre thing a politician has ever done, ever." Tomasky seems to believe that Hillary herself is sort of boring, but the events that were happening around her were anything but.

For all the fun of this book, it has a few flaws. Most outstanding of these is the great disparity in Tomasky's reporting when it comes to upstate rather than New York City politics. Tomasky's sources and knowledge of NYC politics are first rate, but his knowledge of upstate seems to be limited to what he saw on the bus. Much is left out, not the least of which is a full appreciation for Hillary's use of the upstate economy as an issue, and Lazio's perplexing refusal to do the same.

But that's a subject for someone else and not reason enough to skip this book. HILLARY'S TURN is a real page-turner!

Michael Tomasky's HILLARY'S TURN not only gives a comprehensive account of all of the events that affected Hillary Clinton's quest for the Senate, but also does it in a way that's balanced, free of cliche and surprisingly literary. Tomasky is a gifted writer and a great stylist, but he doesn't bang you over the head with his talent. A phrase just catches the eye; you re-read it; you re-re-read it this time aloud and you say to yourself "wow! this SOB can write!"

I'm sure everyone else is commenting about the politics, so I'll leave that alone. Let's just say that I'm one of those who felt that Hillary was TOO CONSERVATIVE -- the death penalty, the drug war, the HMO/INSURANCE CO/AMA health gin-up, advocating abstinence, all the DLC bs, etc. -- and this is the first book that takes the opinions of our small cohort seriously. Tomasky also makes very clear how and why people of different ideological stripes loved her or hated her.

Most of all, we get a great insight into what's important in NYC and New York State politics today. We see the "gears grind" as Tomasky might have said.

Super reading.

I had not expected to be so much entertained by this book, but I was. Tomasky goes all the way back to the 1920s to explain how the political situation that made Hillary a senator arose, and he makes it make sense. Even if you are not that interested in HRC, this book makes a good tutorial of New York politics, its history and psychology.

As for Hillary herself, Tomasky makes it seem clear that just about everything you read about her in regular media is wrong. That's not to say that you will like her from reading this, but you will most likely begin to understand (and understand why) your opinion has been built at least partially out of distorted information.

My favorite line comes in the prologue: "Hillary has been so reluctant to fill in the blank spaces of her life that people filled them in for her, according to the few clues she dropped along the path, and according to their own ideals and neuroses." I can't see how you can hit the nail on the head more squarely.

How else do you explain the reports of more than a few white, professional women (a demographic that was unexpectedly against Hillary) began spending their $185/hour therapy sessions talking not about themselves, but about Hillary?

More questions: Why did she do so well upstate, where she was not expected to? Why did she finally get the jewish vote? Why did she run in the first place? What happened to change her from such a lousy candidate at the beginning to a winner? Tomasky provides most of the answers, and they probably aren't what you are expecting them to be.

Good reading.

I might not particularly like Mrs. Clinton, but I have a great deal of respect for her vision and ability to maintain a focused and fair campaign amid the ever-widening scandals with which her husband continues to embrace himself.

In this book, Michael Tomasky has offered a valuable document to people like me. This is a window through which I was able to finally, at least to my best guess, see the person behind the face and the name some of us have come to meet with churning stomach.

I expected more of a biography, but was met instead with the story of the candidacy for the Senate. We're presented with the ins and outs of the campaign trail, one that would seemingly be somewhat low-key considering it was, after all, for one state and not for all fifty (in a shallow comparison to the Presidential campaign). We're given a look into the turmoils that surrounded Mrs. Clinton, from Rudolph Giuliani's attacks to "that speech, that kiss" from Mrs. Clinton to Arafat's wife. Through it all, we are credibly told and shown, Mrs. Clinton took the high road.

If nothing else, this book has greatly increased my respect for Mrs. Clinton. She's been shown as a human being, one who has the same emotions as you and me, and one who has the character and strength to face a hell of a lot more tribulations in one year than I would ever hope to see in a lifetime. Hats off to Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Tomasky for a well-crafted, perfectly outlined book.

As a New Yorker I followed Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign very closely. Never wanting her to run because as someone who saw the eight years of hell she endured as First Lady I knew what she'd be in for. Readng Michael Tomasky's brillant, honest and ultimately fair book I realized i was right. Mr. Tomasky was able to capture all of the good, the bad and the ugly of this unprecedented campaign bringing the reader along with him on his journey. It's all there for the reader to decide. Even having lived in New York all my life I learned things about the New York political landscape I never knew. They say a book should enable the reader to come away thinking about things they never have before, Mr. Tomasky has fulfilled that which an author should. This book takes you into a world of politics that will never be seen again in American history.

Tomasky's book will be the first and last book you need to read about the year 2000 New York Senate race. Well written, fast paced, often humorous and wonderfully insightful, Tomasky's book is both interesting and entertaining.

Political junkies will thoroughly enjoy this book, especially with the facinating insights the book provides into the unique eccentricities of New York politics. As a New Yorker and long time observer of New York politics, Tomasky is uniquely equipped to relate Hillary's race to New York's political past and the expectations that past imposed on this race. Tomasky's book is largely about how such conventional wisdom was shattered by the unexpected outcomes of this race.

Additionally, Tomasky's observations of the quirkiness of New York's politics is one of the most interesting aspects of the book. Tomasky shows that politics is a very different proposition in New York than much of the rest of the country. Tomasky sprinkles the book with engrossing tales of New York's political history and its personalities which makes for very colorful reading and provides more than a few chuckles.

The downside of the book is that Tomasky seems a bit overly enamored with Hillary. Tomasky is very exhaustive in detailing Hillary's missteps in the campaign and makes clear she exercised some very poor political judgments, especially early in the race. Tomasky clearly puzzles at her lack of openness and availability to the press.

But for the many more malignant furors that erupted during the campaign related to Hillary's ethics, Tomasky always seems to develop some alibi or another for Hillary to exhonerate her, such as when her husband issued clemency to Puerto Rican terrorists. Tomasky seems to brush off any notion that Hillary would have known about this action ahead of time because her campaign was surprised by the move. But what Hillary knew and what the campaign knew and when they all knew it may well have been two very different things. Tomasky fails to recognize this, and leaves unanswered why after years of asking for clemency President Clinton suddenly granted these terrorists their request in the middle of his wife's campaign in a state with a large Puerto Rican population.

With all the many outstanding questions about Hillary's very checkered ethical past, Tomasky seems to dismiss these as nothing more than the product of the overactive imagination of "Hillary haters." He seems unconcerned for how Hillary's demonstrated lack of honesty and candor, as well as the many outstanding questions about her role in the Travel Office affair and shady Whitewater business dealings, effect her ability to be a trustworthy leader.

Tomasky taxes credibility a bit by seeming more offended by the New York state GOP mentioning the terrorist attack on the USS Cole in an anti-Hillary campaign ad or Trent Lott reminding Hillary she needs to be a humble freshman Senator than he does about the demonstrated inconsitencies in Hillary's claims about the Travel Office affair that appear to be bald-faced lies.

Additionally, Tomasky is a little overly harsh in his assesments of Lazio's campaign. While Tomasky amply demonstrates that Lazio ran a very ham-handed race, much more than I was previously aware of, Tomasky seems to have little good to report about Lazio or the race he ran.

Despite Tomasky's obvious leanings, this book is well worth the read. I really enjoyed Tomasky's intelligent and witty writing style and were the book a little more balanced, I'd rate this book with 5 stars. But Tomasky has managed to take what could have been a very cumbersome topic and made it a breezy, readable, concise and well-told tale of one of the more interesting political races in recent memory.

I picked up this book in the mood for some bloodsport, but by the time I finished it I had come away admiring Hillary--not because I think she's terribly likable but because I think she did as much in that campaign as any fundamentally non-political person possibly could. She learned New York up and down, gritted her teeth, and figured out what would be important to voters and what wouldn't. At the end of this book, her opponent, Rick Lazio reminds me of Wile E. Coyote firing an Acme cannon ball at the Road Runner that goes straight up and then boom! down on his head.

This is one of the few campaign books I've read that suggests that all the back-door deal-making and spinning and attempts to satisfy innumerable local constituencies actually has something to do with proving to be a good senator. Probably I bought this book to learn about one woman, but I came away with an immense and complicated view of an entire political ecosystem.

Love her or hate her, you won't find a better guide to how Hillary Clinton pulled off a major political victory in a state that seemed ready to gobble her up. Tomasky is at his narrative best in this fun and insightful book.

Being neither a friend nor a foe of Hillary, I was often confused when I would ask detractors why they disliked her so much. They could often not express it. I happened across this book and read it in a very short time. The writing was compelling and kept my interest. Tomasky answered my questions about Hillary and explained how, dispite such overwhelming dislike of her, she was still able to win this election. I found his personal insights into the campaign, from having been present through the entire 18 months, to his antidotes from other reporters and sources to be explanitory and interesting, all the while keeping a balanced view of her and telling both the negative and positive aspects of her and her campaign. I highly recommend this book. It answered quite a few of my questions about this controversial politician.

Because this book makes an equally balanced and engaging case. It explains how the dream for New York and Hillary was pulled off against insurmountable odds and how all the pundits were proven wrong.

From the time she announced her senate candidacy, to the time she was sworn in to office, Hillary confirmed for the still non-believers that she was a new and novel type of first lady who would expand the ways women are thought of by society. While only New Yorker's were elgible to vote for the first lady, she (much like long term Massachusetts's Ted Kennedy) carries a national coalition for the Democratic party.

Sure, Hillary has flaws (what human does not?) but they are not as fatal as several attack dogs of the right have been suggesting. Ironically, this relentless atack of Hillary for not being a "real New Yorker" (especially from Rick Lazio who made his weak standing worse with the mantra) may have made some voters sympathetic to her ideas because at least she was taking the possibility of representing New York seriously.

There have been other books written about Hillary ... but this book is an excellent chronicle of a key moment for American political women. Whether loved or hated, there is no denying Hillary's impact on American politics, therefore making this a lovely gift for the aspiring young female politician who desparately wants more legitmate grrl power role models than transparent pop-stars.