Race of a Life Time, How Obama Won The White House by Mark Halperin and John Keilermann

Once upon a time an ethnic minority candidate swept away challenges from far more established candidates to become the Democratic nominee in a Presidential race against a centerist Republican nominee. And then in 2006 NBC cancelled The West Wing . Two years previously, in the real world, a young state senator from Illinois lit up the Democratic National Convention starting a chain of events that that would conclude on an emotional day on 20 January 2009 when Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. Race of a Lifetime by John Keilemann and Mark Halperin tells the story of the 2008 United States presidential election, a race with so many twists and turns that it would rival any script that could have been produced by Aaron Sorkin.

Keilermann and Halperin tell the story of the campaign by focusing on the dynamics of the major players involved - Barack, Michelle, Hillary, Bill, John, Cindy and Sarah are the characters who bring us through the intense primary season and the historic election.

The authors go deep into the campaigns and describe how the main participants felt and lived through a campaign that fascinated not only Americans but political junkies around the world. We learn that it was Chelsea Clinton's intervention in 2004 that stopped her mother from seeking the nomination that year a decision that perhaps changed the course of history. We discover how Michelle Obama had huge concerns about her husband's candidacy and that he has a very male trait of forgetting to tell his wife important things about his candidacy before he annouces them on TV. And finally we are there when McCain earns the ire of Fed Chair Ben Bernake by comparing the economic meltdown facing the US with management troubles being experienced by US chain Home Depot.

The authors had unprecedented access to all the campaign teams that allows them to paint a comprehensive picture of not only the race itself but of the personalities involved. It is packed full of ancedotes and written almost in the style of a novel, making it very difficult to put down. I have a bit of an obession with US politics and this was the book to really feed my obsession. I now feel like I know Barack, Hiliary, Sarah & John on a personal level and with domestic politcs seemingly deadlocked in the US, my appetite is whetted for 2012!

Aoife Carroll is a member of the Clonsilla branch in Dublin West.