Tall, lean, heroic and "decidedly Lincolnesque" is the portrait of John Kerry that emerges from this shallow campaign hagiography. Journalist Alexander (Man of the People: The Life of John McCain) gained insider access to the campaign after he wrote a prescient Rolling Stone article touting Kerry as the Democratic front-runner, and this symbiotic relationship continues here. He acknowledges Kerry’s early problems finding the right tone, but after a campaign shakeup and a makeover in which Kerry loosens up (e.g., he starts diving into audiences for Phil Donahue-style Q&As and learns to "connect on a human level") the candidate becomes a juggernaut. From then on the book is a montage of endorsements, primary triumphs and sound bites from Kerry victory speeches. Vignettes include a breathless recap of Kerry’s Vietnam exploits, tearful communions with fellow veterans, manly photo ops of the candidate piloting a chopper or blasting pheasants from the sky, and a snuggly interview in which Kerry and wife Teresa Heinz talk about their relationship. Substantive issues, like Kerry’s ties to corporate lobbyists and support of NAFTA and the war in Iraq, or Heinz’s refusal to release her tax returns, are fleetingly mentioned and then dropped without comment. Instead, Alexander channels his critical impulses entirely into a gloating attack on the Howard Dean campaign (and, in particular, on Dean’s "bizarre" and "unsettling" howl during the Iowa primary), accusations of anti-Kerry bias among the media, and pointed rehashes of Bush’s questionable military record. Readers will find lots of anodyne boilerplate that almost seems (and sometimes is) scripted by the Kerry organization, but little objective insight into the candidate or the nitty-gritty elements of campaigning.
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