The running mate

by Joe Klein

"In The Running Mate, Klein takes the reader on a political journey with Senator Charlie Martin, a decorated veteran of the war in Vietnam. The experience of combat and his easy dominance of home-state politics have made Charlie fearless. He's a hot, if occasionally reckless, political property - dashing, honorable, and irreverent.". "And then Charlie's life begins to fall apart. He campaigns for the presidency and fails. The wacky father of a volunteer decks him - in front of the cameras; a well-kept secret from Charlie's Vietnam days is revealed; he reluctantly finds himself at the center of a friend's cliff-hanging confirmation process for Secretary of Defense ... And Senator Martin begins to learn that politics in an era of spin, marketing, and vicious personal assaults can be as treacherous - and life-threatening - as combat was.". "Finally, Charlie Martin must confront the two greatest challenges of his life - a political opponent who has no scruples and a dazzling, unconventiona