The contested election of 1948 that sent LBJ to senate and catapulted his political career- the election that he did steal- is detailed in anecdotes, interviews and documents in Caro's 2nd volume. The man who dressed in custom made shirts and suits, landed with a helicopter in most Texas towns and threw his Stetson into the crowd that had gathered to see a helicopter for the first time in their lives, was a complex man of questionable character. A great leader of men though he was, he yelled at aids and his wife and made embarrassing and childish scenes in front of constituents. He made sure people knew that he is a practical, conniving and pragmatic politician and jokingly started to introduce himself 'Landslide Lyndon' after an election he had won by 87 votes- at least 200 of which were stolen. He was an obsessive compulsive liar and at the same time a very successful politician, the man who probably passed some of the most important legislations in this country's history and won the presidency with the greatest landslide in modern times presidential elections.
This volume is also about a very different man: Coke Stevenson who lost the 1948 election. The last politician who never asked anyone to vote for him, whose idea of campaign was driving into a town unannounced and introducing himself to strangers, but won all his elections in Texas, including the 48 senate race. A self-made conservative cowboy who taught himself law and became the state governor and 'Mr. Texas' himself.
Robert Caro's books are very good and entertaining reads that try to answer one question: what is political power in a democracy?