Running Uphill: Recollections of a Congressman from Arizona [Hardcover]

James F. McNulty (Author), Alex Witzeman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2004

Former Arizona Congressman James F. McNulty Jr. takes the reader along on the emotional roller coaster of campaigning for office as he examines political and legislative milestones that shaped modern Arizona and details the emergence of a group of liberal "Young Turks" who would eventually seize control of the Arizona Democratic Party.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I recommend his memoir to students of politics and the law, particularly those with a healthy sense of humor." -- Stewart L. Udall, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, 1961-69 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

Why do men and women subject themselves to the challenges involved in a political campaign? Jim McNulty knows why they do it and knows how it feels. In this memoir, former Arizona Congressman James F. McNulty Jr. takes the reader along on the emotional roller coaster of campaigning for office. With a candor rarely heard, he documents the exhausting, expensive, sometimes hilarious, and sometimes slanderous and bitter process, and he explores the motivations and foibles of politicians as he observes the enormous consequences of their successes and failures. Jim McNulty has lived from one election to the next for most of his life. When he wasn't running for office himself, he was helping manage other Democratic candidates' campaigns. He ran successfully for the Arizona State Senate twice and was appointed once to complete the term of a Senator who died in office. He ran for Congress three times, including his victory over Republican Jim Kolbe in 1982 and his defeat by the same opponent in 1984, and he ran for the United States Senate in 1980. McNulty offers his analysis of all these contests as he traces the ebb and flow of political power in the state. The author leads the reader along a life's journey that began in the Irish neighborhoods of Boston and winds through Tucson, Bisbee, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C., and includes a visit to the Soviet Union in 1962. Throughout the book he examines political and legislative milestones that shaped modern Arizona such as the GI Bill, Rural Electrification, the Central Arizona Project, and the establishment of Land Grant Colleges. He details the emergence of a group of liberal "Young Turks" at the University of Arizona who would eventually seize control of the Arizona Democratic Party. In 1960, under the leadership of Stewart Udall, they overthrew the conservative wing of the party and won the Arizona delegation to the Democratic National Convention for another Boston Irishman: John F. Kennedy. This was a turning point in Arizona political history and Jim McNulty was in the middle of it. Running Uphill puts the reader in the middle of it as well, as it reveals the inner workings of Arizona politics and politicians in the last half of the twentieth century. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 244 pages
• Publisher: Whitewing Pr (January 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888965061
• ISBN-13: 978-1888965063
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,843,902 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jim McNulty: Too decent to stay in Congress, February 28, 2005

By 

Steve Emerine (Tucson, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Running Uphill: Recollections of a Congressman from Arizona (Hardcover)

The late Morris K. Udall, Jim McNulty's friend from college, was once described as being "too funny to be president." Reading this book, I realized that McNulty was too decent to be a long-term congressman. He lasted only two years. Mo Udall, another decent man, lasted for 30, defeated only by Parkinson's, but he was an exception. McNulty, an Irishman from Boston, practiced law and made a heavily Mormon area of Arizona his political base for nearly half a century. "Running Uphill" is an interesting tale of his service in the Arizona Senate, his political work for both Morris and Stewart Udall (JFK's interior secretary) his near-defeat of Barry Goldwater for a U.S. Senate seat and his decision to join the Peace Corps at an age where most men sign up instead for golf or shuffle board. Through it all, you realize that this is an honest, honorable and considerate man whose reward for a good freshman term in the U.S. House of Representatives was a narrow loss to a challenger who ran a negative campaign. McNulty may have been too nice to stay in Congress, but Arizona and the nation are better for his having chosen to serve the public.