Rating: 
Summary: Good story, excellent ideas
Review: A well-written, very funny book. Subtle satire and laugh-out-loud scenes co-exist in this thought-provoking novel which digs up the underside of the Electoral College system and turns it over so we can see it in all its so-called-glory.I've given copies of this book to several people, all of whom have been inspired by it to go read the Constitution of the United States, to see just how plausible the plot is. That's not a bad effect for a book to have on people. In any case, whether it makes you think or not, it is undeniably a very funny book with unforgettable characters and situations. The writing is fine: realtively fluent and unobtrusive. And Jeff Greenfield has a very good eye for the ridiculous, while maintaining a high level of compassion for people who are doing the best they can. Definitely recommended in an election year.
Rating:
Summary: Surpisingly good book!
Review: As political novels go, "The People's Choice" doesn't compare to the greats like "The Woody" by Peter Lefcourt or "Thank You for Smoking" by Christopher Buckley. That said, it's not a complete waste of time either. The real problem is in the writing. Jeff Greenfield is a fairly competent political commentator, but he's not a novelist. The pacing is a bit off throughout and the dialogue is so bad it's funny. The book, however, is laugh-out-loud funny in places and never insults the reader, both qualities that make it worth reading despite the style and structural flaws. All that said, it's not a bad read. Greenfield spins an enjoyable yarn about what could happen if the President-Elect dies before the Electoral College casts its votes in December. While some of the events that transpire stretch the reader's imagnination, he roasts many current political players, especially the Rev. Jesse Jackson. It is also timely reading, considering the events of 2000. While not the same scenerio, much of the discussion about the Electoral College matches what the country experienced last November and December. (Of course, Greenfield used his perch on CNN to plug the book shamelessly last year!) Even though Greenfield is wrong in wanting to cast aside the Electoral College and its role in the selection of the President, "The People's Choice" is still a good read. Get the book, take it to the beach and enjoy. Just don't expect great literature.
Rating: 
Summary: Promising theme, silly book
Review: I am a political junkie and when I found this book (well before the 2000 election), which was actually concerned with the role the electoral college could potentially play in a disputed presidential election, I was in hog heaven. I was deeply disappointed when it turned out to be a poorly written, laughable attempt at satire (I think, although it's hard to tell if it's a bad attempt at satire or just plain bad). This subject could be the basis of a great political novel with terrific characters, along the lines of, say, Advise and Consent. But Greenfield is obviously not the person to author a book like that. His characters are not in the least believable, their dialog is silly, and the situations he puts them in belong in a bad TV show. One thing I got very tired of was how Greenfield constantly had his characters making historical references ("Remember back in 1960 ..." "back in 1888 ..." "back in 1824 ..."). Real people don't talk this way; these were included only to prove what a historian Greenfield thinks himself to be. This book is a major disappointment and I give it two stars only because it does contain some factual information relating to electoral college procedure that is genuinely informative. Don't read it for the story though.
Rating:
Summary: This kept me laughing . . .
Review: I heard about this book when Judy Woodruff commented about it while talking to Jeff on air on CNN during the 2000 election. So I finally picked up the audio version and gave it a listen all in one night. Four double sided tapes is a bit long, but it was an amusing listen. Let me say that this was an excellent book. But... My first complaint though right off was that Mr. Greenfield reads way too fast. Understandably he was the one who wrote it and therefore knew it nearly by heart. It had already sunken into his mind. But to me as he sped through scenery and other descriptions I couldn't get a hold of it in my mind. He was already on to the next paragraph. Perhaps if it was not read by the author it would have been a better listen. But the book itself seemed to be well written. The only problem I had with his style was that he seemed to put the 'heroes' into situations that were unrealistically impossible. Not just one or two. But seemingly every situation. The road blocks were immense and then he would proceed to write the characters out of the problem though yet another miraculous turn of events. The very nature of the story was supposed to be unreal. But it seemed like every situation the 'heroes' of our story ran into tried to feel like they had no hope of escape. Its used by many authors to portray a sense of excitement and drama. Especially when they are faced by these great odds and seem to triumph time and again. Real life just isn't that interesting. But this is fiction. :) I was a little disappointed in the ending. I would have preferred to see perhaps the opposite candidate get in. I would have preferred to see the showdown they had talked about through the whole book. I would have even preferred to have seen perhaps a third party candidate involved in this some how just to spice things up. All that aside, it was worth the money and its better than 99% of the other political garbage writing that is out there. I highly recommend it. The ending, though not my preferred ending, was still a nice surprise. Who would have thought that he would show that kind of character? In the end Mr Greenfield could never have guessed the actual level that real life politicians and deal makers would stoop to win the 2000 election. At least his characters followed the laws.
Rating:
Summary: The Hole in our Constitution
Review: Jeff Greenfield is best known as a political commentator for ABC. He uses his enormous experience to craft an intriguing yarn which is basically about how the Electoral College works. Dry subject, great book. Some of the characters are thinly-veiled caricatures of real people, and it was great fun guessing who was who (Avi DuPois is a great name for Limbaugh, but is the "Distinguished Commentator" supposed to be Brinkley or George Will?). It's all too believable that something like what's in the book could happen. Must-read for all politics junkies.
Rating: 
Summary: Book works as political theater, less so as literature
Review: Jeff Greenfield is not primarily a fiction author by trade, and it shows in this effort. While he occasionally comes up with laugh-out-loud funny scenarios, he is more often than not doing workman's duty to fill out a fairly convoluted plot about what would happen if the president-elect died before the electoral college members officially cast their ballots. Only some of the characters are very interesting, and none are particularly complex. Greenfield is at his best when he describes the news media covering the politics beat, and the novel is ultimately successful for its target audience of political news junkies. At times, the characters engage in unbelievable and dry conversation designed to let Greenfield speak directly to the reader and set up his various premises--but the language is exactly the sort of dull, mind-numbing analysis of minutiae that politics fans love to watch and spew. To that extent, one could say the book works as satire, but it is clearly not meant as such. Greenfield has written the kind of book he would like to read, I expect. Heavy on event-oriented plot and light on its stumbling and ineffective efforts at examining the people behind the story, the book is exactly like television news. If you enjoy CNN, give it a read.
Rating: 
Summary: GROSSLY OVERRATED
Review: THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE is a rare find -- a political thriller that plausibly explores the gray area between politics and the Constitution. As a constitutional historian who had to endure much heat and almost no light during the convulsions of November-December 2000, I returned to this book gratefully. Greenfield is right on target with his assessment of the ways in which the media desperately seek to fork over simple answers, whether true or false, to unexpected political and constitutional quandaries. He is also deadly accurate in his assessment of the workings of the electoral college. Mindless celebration of the achievements of the beloved Founding Fathers do violence to the history made by the generation who framed and adopted the Constitution. The original expectations underlying the Electoral College disintegrated within a decade of its adoption. Its architects expected it to select a pool of candidates from whom the House would choose the President and Vice President. They did not expect the rise of national partisan competition for the Presidency, nor that the Electoral College would actually agree on winners of Presidential elections most of the time. Interested readers should consult Lawrence Longley's and Neal Peirce's THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE PRIMER 2000 (Yale, 1999). We have seen an increasing mismatch between the expectations of the Revolutionary generation for the constitutional system and the system's actual workings over time. Such books as THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE are therefore valuable, even essential reading. -- R. B. Bernstein, adjunct professor of law, New York Law School
Rating:
Summary: if you found the last presidential election interesting.....
Review: then this book is for you. it is amazing how mr. greenfield introduced the constitutional complexities of the electoral college a full five years before we would encounter similar trouble in real life. this isn't a carbon copy of the 2000 presidential election but it raises many issues that were confronted last fall. mr. greenfield does not drown the reader in lawyerspeak and legal manipulation. he introduces us to characters who live and breathe the same patriotic values every day in america. this book was well written and it won't take two months to figure out who will be the president.
Rating: 
Summary: Unorthodox, but very good
Review: This was quite an interesting book. One who critiques the setup of the novel may be infuriated. This is not Cervantes or Dickens. Jeff Greenfield is probably the best political analyist on T.V., and his insight provides a great story. Twists and turns keep you inthralled. I went from start to finish with this book on Memorial Day. If you like politics and Constitutional loopholes, you'll love this book.
Rating:
Summary: Unorthodox, but very good
Review: This was quite an interesting book. One who critiques the setup of the novel may be infuriated. This is not Cervantes or Dickens. Jeff Greenfield is probably the best political analyist on T.V., and his insight provides a great story. Twists and turns keep you inthralled. I went from start to finish with this book on Memorial Day. If you like politics and Constitutional loopholes, you'll love this book.
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