This is the inside story of Barack Obama’s historic quest for the 2008 presidential delegate majority from the unique vantage point of Jeff Berman, Obama’s national delegate director. Called Obama’s secret weapon, Berman led the effort to devise and execute the delegate plan that Obama used to capture the presidential nomination. Learn how the 2008 fight for delegates produced one of the greatest presidential upsets of all time.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Jeff Berman served as the National Director of Delegate Operations for the 2008 Obama presidential campaign. After the 2008 elections, he was elected to the Democratic National Committee and its Rules and Bylaws Committee, and appointed to the Democratic Change Commission to recommend changes to the Democratic Party’s presidential nominating process. He previously served as an advisor to presidential candidates John Glenn in 1984 and Dick Gephardt in 1988 and 2004, and as counsel to the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. He and his wife have four children and live in Washington, DC. He is an attorney and a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Johnny Na
Format:Paperback
The book starts with a variety of background pieces including a bit of Berman's career and how he came to work for David Plouffe on the Obama 2008 campaign, some history of former presidential nomination campaigns, thoughts about Sen. Clinton's early lead and an instructional anecdote about the kind of effort needed to get just one delegate to commit to a candidate.
By chapter 2 there's a solid crash course in delegate math. After that it's into Berman's description of his early planning for the path through the primaries and caucuses of the campaign. He covers the attempts of Florida and Michigan to bypass DNC rules in order to hold early caucuses and gives a primer on "superdelegates" and how they evolved into such a large number.
He also described some of the tedious, thankless and yet critical work of getting all the petitions and other paperwork filed. If one doesn't file the required signatures for a district, one won't be eligible to earn delegates for that district. (See my example at the bottom.)
Then the voting chronology kicks in. Berman gives a state by state, delegate by delegate narrative as he and his team pursue them in the primary campaign, from the first contest in Iowa to the national convention. He relates how each development, whether crisis or planned, changed the delegate counts as the campaign progressed. The persistence of the effort is amazing. For many readers, it will be surprising how many routes are taken for delegates to become pledged to a candidate.
Much of this material will be familiar to people who closely followed the 2008 Clinton-Obama contest or to regular "political junkies". I followed the campaign closely and this book evoked those few months very powerfully for me. While I liked the whole book and could barely set it down, I found the last third of it more interesting because is seemed to have more "behind the scenes" anecdotes. I also found the chapter on the battle over superdelegates interesting because of how Plouffe and Berman managed to keep their message in focus.
Berman has a personable, direct, no nonsense style that works well for this kind of account. There are a few errors that slipped by the editing but they are not too hard to figure out (eg. "marquis" is used a few times where "marquee" should have stood.)
This book is not for everybody. The message of the book if there is one is that success in presidential campaigns is not just glamour but also a lot of discipline and painstaking work. The plodding toward the "magic number" can be more of a technician's work than an artist's. There are some nice scenes that evoke Chicago and there is some interesting discussion of strategy, but this is largely a nuts and bolts account.
To anyone with an interest in the delegate based nomination process of our two parties, this will be a welcome book - even though the two major parties implement delegate rules very differently. In fact I find myself reflecting how the 2012 Republican presidential primary campaign might have been different if Rick Santorum had this material a year ago.
Just earlier this month Mitt Romney won the popular vote in the Republican Presidential primary in Ohio by about 0.86%. On the other hand he bested Rick Santorum in the delegate count by 38 to 21, a much bigger win. Much of this disparity of delegates was due to the failure of Mr. Santorum's organization to slate delegates in all of the Ohio congressional districts. We may soon see a similar occurrence in Illinois.
By chapter 2 there's a solid crash course in delegate math. After that it's into Berman's description of his early planning for the path through the primaries and caucuses of the campaign. He covers the attempts of Florida and Michigan to bypass DNC rules in order to hold early caucuses and gives a primer on "superdelegates" and how they evolved into such a large number.
He also described some of the tedious, thankless and yet critical work of getting all the petitions and other paperwork filed. If one doesn't file the required signatures for a district, one won't be eligible to earn delegates for that district. (See my example at the bottom.)
Then the voting chronology kicks in. Berman gives a state by state, delegate by delegate narrative as he and his team pursue them in the primary campaign, from the first contest in Iowa to the national convention. He relates how each development, whether crisis or planned, changed the delegate counts as the campaign progressed. The persistence of the effort is amazing. For many readers, it will be surprising how many routes are taken for delegates to become pledged to a candidate.
Much of this material will be familiar to people who closely followed the 2008 Clinton-Obama contest or to regular "political junkies". I followed the campaign closely and this book evoked those few months very powerfully for me. While I liked the whole book and could barely set it down, I found the last third of it more interesting because is seemed to have more "behind the scenes" anecdotes. I also found the chapter on the battle over superdelegates interesting because of how Plouffe and Berman managed to keep their message in focus.
Berman has a personable, direct, no nonsense style that works well for this kind of account. There are a few errors that slipped by the editing but they are not too hard to figure out (eg. "marquis" is used a few times where "marquee" should have stood.)
This book is not for everybody. The message of the book if there is one is that success in presidential campaigns is not just glamour but also a lot of discipline and painstaking work. The plodding toward the "magic number" can be more of a technician's work than an artist's. There are some nice scenes that evoke Chicago and there is some interesting discussion of strategy, but this is largely a nuts and bolts account.
To anyone with an interest in the delegate based nomination process of our two parties, this will be a welcome book - even though the two major parties implement delegate rules very differently. In fact I find myself reflecting how the 2012 Republican presidential primary campaign might have been different if Rick Santorum had this material a year ago.
Just earlier this month Mitt Romney won the popular vote in the Republican Presidential primary in Ohio by about 0.86%. On the other hand he bested Rick Santorum in the delegate count by 38 to 21, a much bigger win. Much of this disparity of delegates was due to the failure of Mr. Santorum's organization to slate delegates in all of the Ohio congressional districts. We may soon see a similar occurrence in Illinois.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Chris DeRose
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is exactly what I was looking for. In David Plouffe's "Audicity to Win," I learned that the Obama campaign was laser focused on winning delegates, as the Clinton camp were relying on the old fashioned model of winning early, drying up their opponent's fundraising, and forcing them from the field. This is the full account of that strategy, from concept to execution.
Jeff Berman is the only person who could have written "The Magic Number." As the person designated with leading the delegate effort, he takes us behind the scenes as he navigates the bizarre patchwork of rules and regulations across the country to get Barack Obama on the ballot, and to maximize his delegates for the Denver convention, and to fend off challenges that could derail the campaign.
Be sure that's what you're looking for in this book. There may be a good reason why you've never seen the delegate selection process portrayed in film or television. But if you want to learn about this critical component of presidential campaigns, this book is the gold standard. If you want the full story of how the 2008 presidential primary was won, this book has got to be high on your list.
Berman is a great writer, making an arcane subject highly readable and engaging.
Jeff Berman is the only person who could have written "The Magic Number." As the person designated with leading the delegate effort, he takes us behind the scenes as he navigates the bizarre patchwork of rules and regulations across the country to get Barack Obama on the ballot, and to maximize his delegates for the Denver convention, and to fend off challenges that could derail the campaign.
Be sure that's what you're looking for in this book. There may be a good reason why you've never seen the delegate selection process portrayed in film or television. But if you want to learn about this critical component of presidential campaigns, this book is the gold standard. If you want the full story of how the 2008 presidential primary was won, this book has got to be high on your list.
Berman is a great writer, making an arcane subject highly readable and engaging.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Allan Katz
Format:Kindle Edition
This book captures the campaign effort that was required for the nomination to be secured by Obama. Jeff Berman developed and executed the strategy and has written about it in a compelling fashion.Even though the outcome is known, the excitement is captured in this excellent narrative. I highly recommend it.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A "How To" about Winning the White House
As a participant in presidential politics since 1976, I highly recommend Jeff Berman's book about the 2008 Democratic primary campaign. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Ed Turlington
5.0 out of 5 stars
Obama's Unsung Hero
This is a fantastic book written by Jeff Berman who Politico called, "Obama's Unsung Hero". Mr. Berman was the genius behind the Obama nomination strategy. Read more
Published 14 months ago by bob kihm
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Magic Number
A fun read for those involved with the 2008 primary campaign or anyone interested in the real life intricacies of the presidential selection process. Read more
Published 14 months ago by mjfrench
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