<![CDATA[The Thumpin': How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to Be Ruthless and Ended the Republican Revolution]]>

false <![CDATA[The Thumpin': How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to Be Ruthless and Ended the Republican Revolution]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178330166m/785485.jpg 785485 2 In the 2006 midterm elections, the Democratic party ended twelve years of electoral humiliation by seizing back Congress and putting an end to Republican rule. The Thumpin’ is the story of that historic victory and the man at the center on whom Democratic hopes hinged: Congressman Rahm Emanuel, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). Chicago Tribune reporter Naftali Bendavid had exclusive access to Emanuel and the DCCC in the year and a half leading up to the elections and ended up with the story of a lifetime, the thrilling blow-by-blow account of how Emanuel remade the campaign in his own ferocious image. Responsible for everything from handpicking Congressional candidates to raising money for attack ads, Emanuel, a talented ballet dancer better known in Washington for his extraordinary intensity and his inexhaustible torrents of profanity, threw out the playbook on the way Democrats run elections. Instead of rallying the base, Rahm sought moderate-to-conservative candidates who could attract more traditional voters. Instead of getting caught in the Democrats’ endless arguments about their positions, he went on the attack, personally vilifying Republicans from Tom DeLay to Christopher Shays. And instead of abiding by the gentlemen’s agreements of good-old-boy Washington, he broke them, attacking his counterpart in the Republican party and challenging Howard Dean, the chairman of his own party. In 2005, no one believed victory was within the Democrats’ grasp. But as the months passed, Republicans were caught in wave after wave of scandal, support for the war in Iraq steadily declined, and the president’s poll numbers plummeted. And in Emanuel, the Democrats finally had a killer, a ruthless closer like Karl Rove or Lee Atwater, poised to seize the advantage and deliver what President Bush would call “a thumpin.’” Taking its cues from classic political page-turners like Showdown at Gucci Gulch and documentaries like The War Room, The Thumpin’ takes us inside the key races and the national strategy-making that moved the Democrats from forecasted gains of three seats in 2005 to a sweeping gain of thirty seats when the votes were finally counted. Through this masterful account of Rahm’s rout, Bendavid shows how the lessons the Democrats learned in 2006—to fight for every vote, to abandon litmus tests, and to take no prisoners—will be crucial to the party’s future electoral success, and shape the political course the nation will take in the twenty-first century. 771483 8 5 2007 The Thumpin': How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to Be Ruthless and Ended the Republican Revolution total:40|5:9|4:19|3:8|2:3|1:1| 40 152 72 11 4 0 false false Mon May 28 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Nov 26 07:02:37 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 26 07:03:02 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Jan 28 09:02:18 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 28 09:02:18 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon May 14 07:49:59 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 01 06:41:46 -0700 2007
----

One of the best political books I have r...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 15 19:09:13 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 15 19:13:50 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Sep 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 27 23:47:01 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 27 23:52:48 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 04 12:26:24 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 25 10:23:28 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jan 14 12:02:06 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 14 12:05:39 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue May 29 12:48:10 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 12 13:55:43 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Nov 18 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 14 11:05:43 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 18 12:22:48 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Nov 06 11:42:04 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 06 11:44:12 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Jun 09 13:41:04 -0700 2007 Wed Jul 04 08:45:49 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Wed Nov 25 09:23:30 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 25 10:08:37 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Oct 19 13:25:03 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 19 13:25:03 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Oct 05 17:48:06 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 05 17:48:06 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Aug 18 01:13:23 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 18 01:13:23 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 04 12:59:23 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 12:59:38 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Jul 14 23:14:01 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 14 23:14:01 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Jun 29 19:07:08 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 29 19:07:08 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Jun 15 17:34:57 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 17:34:57 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Fri Jun 12 12:56:53 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 12 12:56:53 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=785485