The Big Enchilada

by Stuart Stevens

"Stuart Stevens tells the story of the Bush campaign the public never saw - from the Austin coffee shop where Stevens watched Karl Rove sketch out the Republican master plan on a napkin to the small Methodist church in Crawford, Texas, where the blue-jeaned future president prepared for the make-or-break debates that no one expected him to win. He offers the inside view of the rise and flameout of maverick John McCain; the struggle to come up with a message that could be heard over a booming economy ("Times have never been better. Vote for change," campaign aides joked); and the fierce debates over the upside and downside of "going negative" against a vulnerable adversary.". "Above all, Stevens turns the familiar political tale of disillusionment on its head. From the moment he arrived in Austin to join the campaign - "Stevens, get in here and let's bond!" the governor said - he discovered the peculiar pleasure of working with people who not only respected and admired their candidate b