The Running Mate

Rating:
Summary: Not nearly as good as it should be
Review: I admit that Primary Colors was a GREAT book, personally because it showed the essense of the Clintonian mystique and mythology. I was excited upon hearing that he had a new book. I was quite surprised.

Charlie/McCain/Kerry is about as venal and cynical as the people he berates. He was a true military hero, a Democratic Senator, and a 1992 presidential contender against Stanton/Clinton (who is as repulsive and charming as ever). We are again immersed in the power politics of the Democratic Party and ethical and personal quandrums along the way. (Why do political thrillers always feature Democrats? This is especially galling when there are 31 GOP governors and they control Congress.)

The story picks up at Primary Colors (1992) and the choice of Clinton/Stanton's running mate. The description of Al Gore was priceless. The heavy use of DC inside talk is soon burdensome to anyone outside the Beltway and while Capitol Hill and media folks may have chuckled at the "inside" jokes, it was a swamp to most. I was left scrambling to match the fictional and actual personas. The plot slowed to a snail's pace in the middle.

My problem is this: He attempted to portray Charlie, the war hero, as a political hero but he was certainly uninspirational. He rationalizes bad votes, criticizes the left while accepting their aid, pouts, throws tantrums, pontificates, deprecates, whines...to me he was such a typical politician that I was thinking, "Am I supposed to feel something for this guy?" He was an anti-hero of sorts. One pleasing aspect of Klein's work is the voice he gives to the opposition - exemplified in a quiet speech by the Muffler Man, Charlie's senatorial opponent. It is perhaps the most credible prose in the book. I hate to do this, but only read this book if you have something else to do.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth it, in my opinion
Review: I had high hopes with this book. Reading the summary it sounded to me like it had all the necessary elements to be a hit.

I didn't care for any of the characters, and that's not just because they are cut-throat politicians, but because they just didn't seem to me to have any worthwhile attributes.

I didn't even make it to the end of the book!

Rating:
Summary: Not worth it, in my opinion
Review: I had high hopes with this book. Reading the summary it sounded to me like it had all the necessary elements to be a hit.

I didn't care for any of the characters, and that's not just because they are cut-throat politicians, but because they just didn't seem to me to have any worthwhile attributes.

I didn't even make it to the end of the book!

Rating:
Summary: A Book that Improves on Every Mistake of Primary Colors
Review: I heard Joe Klein speak at my school, Millsaps College, and was impressed enough with his insider knowledge to give Primary Colors a second read. Knowing who "Anonymous" was didn't change the context of the book much. It was still a novel about wondering who wrote the novel. The guessing game of which politico he was tabloiding overshadowed any literary aspects of the novel.

This speaks volumes to why THE RUNNING MATE is so much smarter that PRIMARY COLORS. The characters are composites of our favorite pundits, but the most important dynamic of the book is character and truth, not shock and satire.

The character portraits are as compelling as the political portraits. We open as our character has his marriage proposal rejected, while fighting a sexual misunderstanding and failing at a run for the presidency. The descriptions of the veteran Senator returning to Vietnam afterwards are particularly powerful.

THE RUNNING MATE is delightfully complex. You voyeuristically watch the Senator as he manipulates the people that watch him. We love the characters for the traits that make them great Americans, while simultaneously watching those same traits damn them. I particularly like how Klein uses many of the events from original novel as a backdrop. The events of Primary Colors seriously affect the new characters. It makes Klein's political timeline a universe of its own.

When he spoke at Millsaps, Klein mentioned that he wanted to "write the great modern novel about politics." And this time he has succeeded. This one is definitely a serious work that deserves another read, to catch the subtleties of Klein's observations of modern politics.

Rating:
Summary: Is Senator Charlie Martin really a hero ?
Review: I loved the portrait of a charming, ambitious, amoral young Southerner - Jack Stanton AKA Bill Clinton -, on his way to the White House - as given by Joe Klein in "Primary Colors". So I obviously bought "the Running Mate":

Politics isn't about policies, it's about artful Machiavellian maneuvers, backstabbing, and feeding scandals to the press.

So far, so good :-)

Joe Kleins hero is a democrat, so what are the values that is lost when "our" hero loses (to a political opponent - Republican - who has no scruples) ? I don't really think the "Running Mate" tells us, but of course we know - it is those liberal values your High School teacher loved ???

A) Human worth is intrinsic and doesn't depend on success or power.

B) All human conflict and striefe between human beings can be ended whether by political revolution, social change or better education.

C) All inequalities are due to discrimination, prejudice, oppression or social conditioning.

D) You should stand by the traditional values of the left by being on the side of the weak, poor and oppressed.

???

Obviously the slime Jack Stanton (AKA Bill Clinton) did terrible things to this agenda by totally confusing what it is all about (drowning it in slime). So now we have a hero, Charlie Martin, who should be able to fight for the cause. He is supposedly honest and "good" - and his opponents are not. Whether they are Comcon - compassionate conservatives, who preach that abortion is murder, while their own wifes have them performed quietly - or they are democrats like scumbag Jack Stanton - it doesn't really matter - they are all scum in this universe. - And it is a delight to read about :-)

But as Joe Klein doesn't really tell all that much about "our" heroes political agenda (I assume it to be as stated above) - I somehow come to think that our hero senator might have these values, but it doesn't really mean that damn much to him. - And then, in my book, he must be a scumbag as well.

Even though I don't agree with such a traditional left world view - I can respect if it is "felt" deeply. I can't respect it, if is only kind of half thought through and taken on because it makes for a good career (Jack Stanton like) - and perhaps because it gives you an alibi as a human.

But, to Joe Klein senator Martin is a hero.

When his opponent runs "oppo" on him - We, the readers, are told the inside story to this and is appaled that the opponent can do a thing like that. And tired about this a part of political life - somehow we are already betting with ourselfes on what the scandals are going to be in the nonfictional presidential campaign of autumn 2000, Bush vs. Gore.

Still does it really make senator Martin a hero to suffer attacks of this kind ? To loose to an opponent who uses such tactics ? Does it make the senator a hero that he finally cares about having a family and plans to gets married (BTW. - is that why the book is called the running mate ?)

???

Ok, it makes a hero to overcome trouble, But in politics you should also be about something. And somehow senator Martin seems as forlorn as his opponents to me. I am not entirely convinced that he is now a devoted husband or that he really has some solid ideas about where the world should be headed. If Joe Klein intended for me, the reader, to have these feelings - then it is really once again a brilliant book :-) But somehow I think he liked this Charlie Martin guy perhaps a little to much :-) Maybe Charlie Martin simply got derailed by his own confusion - that is not hero stuff ? is it ?

-Simon

Rating:
Summary: serio-comic political novel
Review: It is hard to come across contemporary political fiction for those of us who follow politics like most Americans follow sports (don't you think it should be the other way around).

I won't make this a long since I don't want to waste time rehashing what others have already said. My take on it is that "Primary Colors" ran along the backdrop of a political revolution. "The Running Mate" chronicles the counter-revolution leading to the Gingrich era. The rapid extreme pulls from left to right and back and to confusion (1992-2000) were unprecedented in our history and will be the subject of historical debate for this era, IMHO.

Even though there is no "anonymous" behind the writing, it is still fun to try to peg down the real life doppelgangers to the novel's characters, such as the overbearing Irish-American Senate Majority Leader from Massachusetts, the drawling Alabama senator in charge of Defense, and the smarmy political consultant who runs the campaign through polling while cavorting through France.

Rating:
Summary: Sorry. . .just a lousy novel
Review: Joe Klein shot his wad with "Primary Colors" (writing as "Anonymous"). This book is peopled largely with stereotypes and shallowly portrayed, very unsympathetic characters.

As a political novel, it is awful.

As a love story, it is worse.

As modern political commentary, it is banal.

Having grown up on the (admittedly now dated) political novels of Allen Drury, I have a relatively high standard for such forms of fiction. Mr. Klein has a looooong way to go.

Rating:
Summary: Klein does it again
Review: Mr Klein builds on the success of Primary Colors, writing another book that makes the reader feel he is a fly on the wall in the political process. It's amusing, it's realistic...that is, if the view we get of the political system through the eyes of the media is truly "reality."

Rating:
Summary: Joe Klein's does "The Lash Hurrah" for a new generation
Review: Senator Charles Martin was the Bob Kerry-like figure in Joe (a.k.a. Anonymous) Klein's roman-a-clef "Primary Colors," a decorated Vietnam vet who did not use the Happy Hairdresser to derail Jack Stanton in New Hampshire. In "The Running Mate," Martin is now the main character and while this book is not a sequel per se to "Primary Colors," it does inhabit the same fictional but still recognizable political world. The title of this book is purposefully ambiguous, since it suggests that Martin would be Stanton's choice for the second spot on the ticket, but then the book's prologue has the Senator embroiled in a re-election campaign. Actually the title refers to the book's main subplot, for while their is a political campaign dominating the narrative there is also a romance going on between Martin and Nell Palmerston (The cover art is a simple but elegant extension of "Primary Colors"; there is now a blue donkey behind the first). However, both story lines deal with the brand new world created in the wake of the Stanton/Clinton victory, from the extent to which personal lives are fair game to the way candidates create and respond to negative ads. Readers who pick up this book looking for more Jack Stanton will be disappointed, as he is a very minor character in the narrative. Still, his political reality is not only alive and kicking, but threatening to bring down Charles Martin. Actually, if this book reminds you of any other major political novel, it would really be "The Last Hurrah" rather than "Primary Colors."

Even more so than with "Primary Colors," those who try to find the facts behind the fiction are simply barking up the wrong tree. When Klein wrote "The Running Mate" there were six veterans in the United States Senate who served in Vietnam: Max Cleland, Chuck Hagel, Bob Kerry, John Kerry, John McCain and Chuck Robb. Readers might recognize bits and pieces of Charles Martin's life in what they know about those six Senators, and Klein credits them with being the inspiration for this book, but none of the six match up with the fictional characters even half as well as Bill Clinton did with Jack Stanton. Actually, when I read the book the Senator I kept thinking of was the one from my own state who was defeated last fall by a rich guy who owns a chain of department stores, which certainly matches up with Martin's contest against the Muffler Man. Ultimately, "The Running Mate" looks at the generational conflict between the Baby Boomers who lived through Vietnam and the Sixties rather than the ideological division supposed represented by the two parties (both of which are considerably more moderate than they were a decade ago). There is a sense in which Klein is tracking how the alternative lifestyles that were once accepted, are now being rejected again. Certainly Klein burdens Martin's character with a fair amount of baggage in that regard: his widowed father is living in sin, his girl friend is still married, he has just discovered he fathered a son in Vietnam, and his chauffeur is an ex-drug runner who has found the Lord. His opponent in the Senate campaign, Lee Butler, has been mouthing off on a morning radio talk show for a couple of years and loves to be shown reading his Bible. Clearly there are two well defined sides in this particular campaign.

"The Running Mate" is not a cynical novel about politics, but it is certainly depressingly realistic. A consistent theme is that Martin is an honorable man, which is clearly established as a big disadvantage when it comes to wagging a political campaign in America today. There is a transcendent moment in the novel, when Butler makes the mistake of trying to go for the jugular too soon in a debate between the candidates, and Martin destroys the man in two marvelous paragraphs. This is the sort of scene I have waited for my whole life in the Presidential debates, a moment where one candidate makes the other eat their words before the eyes and ears of the nation. However, in Klein's world as in our own, no good deed goes unpunished. In the final analysis I did not enjoy "The Running Mate" as much as I did "Primary Colors," where half the fun was wondering how much of the story was grounded in fact and how much in fiction. But Klein is making a much more serious point about the current nature of the political process this time around, dealing less with the dominant personality of a flawed but compelling candidate, and more with just how things work. At the end, you might be more inclined to be more disenchanted with the process than the candidates. This book is well worth reading, especially if you are provoked into having deep thoughts.

Rating:
Summary: A Hunorous Adult Read
Review: Senator Charles Martin was the Bob Kerry-like figure in Joe (a.k.a. Anonymous) Klein's roman-a-clef "Primary Colors," a decorated Vietnam vet who did not use the Happy Hairdresser to derail Jack Stanton in New Hampshire. In "The Running Mate," Martin is now the main character and while this book is not a sequel per se to "Primary Colors," it does inhabit the same fictional but still recognizable political world. The title of this book is purposefully ambiguous, since it suggests that Martin would be Stanton's choice for the second spot on the ticket, but then the book's prologue has the Senator embroiled in a re-election campaign. Actually the title refers to the book's main subplot, for while their is a political campaign dominating the narrative there is also a romance going on between Martin and Nell Palmerston (The cover art is a simple but elegant extension of "Primary Colors"; there is now a blue donkey behind the first). However, both story lines deal with the brand new world created in the wake of the Stanton/Clinton victory, from the extent to which personal lives are fair game to the way candidates create and respond to negative ads. Readers who pick up this book looking for more Jack Stanton will be disappointed, as he is a very minor character in the narrative. Still, his political reality is not only alive and kicking, but threatening to bring down Charles Martin. Actually, if this book reminds you of any other major political novel, it would really be "The Last Hurrah" rather than "Primary Colors."

Even more so than with "Primary Colors," those who try to find the facts behind the fiction are simply barking up the wrong tree. When Klein wrote "The Running Mate" there were six veterans in the United States Senate who served in Vietnam: Max Cleland, Chuck Hagel, Bob Kerry, John Kerry, John McCain and Chuck Robb. Readers might recognize bits and pieces of Charles Martin's life in what they know about those six Senators, and Klein credits them with being the inspiration for this book, but none of the six match up with the fictional characters even half as well as Bill Clinton did with Jack Stanton. Actually, when I read the book the Senator I kept thinking of was the one from my own state who was defeated last fall by a rich guy who owns a chain of department stores, which certainly matches up with Martin's contest against the Muffler Man. Ultimately, "The Running Mate" looks at the generational conflict between the Baby Boomers who lived through Vietnam and the Sixties rather than the ideological division supposed represented by the two parties (both of which are considerably more moderate than they were a decade ago). There is a sense in which Klein is tracking how the alternative lifestyles that were once accepted, are now being rejected again. Certainly Klein burdens Martin's character with a fair amount of baggage in that regard: his widowed father is living in sin, his girl friend is still married, he has just discovered he fathered a son in Vietnam, and his chauffeur is an ex-drug runner who has found the Lord. His opponent in the Senate campaign, Lee Butler, has been mouthing off on a morning radio talk show for a couple of years and loves to be shown reading his Bible. Clearly there are two well defined sides in this particular campaign.

"The Running Mate" is not a cynical novel about politics, but it is certainly depressingly realistic. A consistent theme is that Martin is an honorable man, which is clearly established as a big disadvantage when it comes to wagging a political campaign in America today. There is a transcendent moment in the novel, when Butler makes the mistake of trying to go for the jugular too soon in a debate between the candidates, and Martin destroys the man in two marvelous paragraphs. This is the sort of scene I have waited for my whole life in the Presidential debates, a moment where one candidate makes the other eat their words before the eyes and ears of the nation. However, in Klein's world as in our own, no good deed goes unpunished. In the final analysis I did not enjoy "The Running Mate" as much as I did "Primary Colors," where half the fun was wondering how much of the story was grounded in fact and how much in fiction. But Klein is making a much more serious point about the current nature of the political process this time around, dealing less with the dominant personality of a flawed but compelling candidate, and more with just how things work. At the end, you might be more inclined to be more disenchanted with the process than the candidates. This book is well worth reading, especially if you are provoked into having deep thoughts.