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DECIDING THE NEXT DECIDER
By: Calvin Trillin
The 2008 Presidential Race in Rhyme
Random House
December 2008
On Sale: November 25, 2008
128 pages
ISBN: 1400068282
EAN: 9781400068289
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Political
Displaying the form that made bestsellers of Obliviously On He Sails and A Heckuva Job, tales of the Bush Administration in rhyme, Calvin Trillin trains his verse on the 2008 race for the presidency. Deciding the Next Decider is an ongoing campaign narrative in verse interrupted regularly by other poems, such as a country tune about John Edwards called โYes, I Know Heโs a Mill Workerโs Son, But Thereโs Hollywood in That Hairโ and a Sarah Palin song about her foreign policy credentials: โOn a Clear Day, I See Vladivostok.โ It covers Mitt Romneyโs transformation (โMitt Romneyโs saying now he should have known / A stem cellโs just a human, not quite grownโ), the speculation about whether Al Gore was trimming down to run (โPresumably, they looked for photo ops / To see what Gore was stuffing in his chopsโ), the slow-motion implosion of Hillary Clintonโs drive to the White House (โSome pundits wrote that Hilโs campaign might fare / A little better if Bill wasnโt thereโ), and the differing responses of Barack Obama and John McCain to the financial crisis (โThough coolness has its limitations, itโll / Prevent comparisons with Chicken Littleโ). Beginning at the 2006 midterms, Deciding the Next Decider resurrects the nonstarters like George Allen (โHe fit whatโs often valued by the Right: / Quite cheerful, Reaganesque, and not too brightโ) and the low-energy Fred Thompson (โThe pros said, โThatโs a state he has to take, / And he just might, if he can stay awakeโ โ). And it carries through to the vote that made Barack Obama the forty-fourth president of the United States.
 Media BuzzCBS Sunday Morning - January 18, 2009
Charlie Rose - December 18, 2008
All Things Considered - December 5, 2008
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