RealClearPolitics is a leading website for political news and commentary, and one that routinely breaks news inside the Beltway and about presidential campaigns. In the first of a three-eBook series, ELECTION 2012: The Battle Begins (Crown Publishers, on sale November 11), written by Tom Bevan and Carl M. Cannon, provides an in-depth look at the inner workings of the White House reelection team and many of the major GOP candidates running for president. In addition, this groundbreaking e-original provides fascinating insights from some of the key GOP figures who flirted with a presidential run and why they ultimately declined.

ELECTION 2012: The Battle Begins gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the early stages of the 2012 race, providing in-depth reporting, analysis, and the latest coverage of the campaigns of President Obama and the GOP candidates.

Newsmaking items in this eBook include:

• Rick Perry—new details are revealed from key figures associated with his well-funded campaign about his plan to duke it out until the end à la Obama vs. Clinton; his enmity with the Bush camp; his staff shake-ups.
• Mitt Romney—following his 2008 defeat we go inside his first strategy meeting on the 2012 presidential run; and we get a deeper look at the elusive philosophical question: Why he is running for president?
• Herman Cain—a larger picture of his campaign’s inept response to the sexual harassment allegations.
• Newt Gingrich—new details emerge about Callista Gingrich’s domineering influence on the campaign, including her spat with campaign staff over the couple’s Mediterranean cruise in June and her husband’s Tiffany account.
• Michele Bachmann—in the chapter titled “Minnesota Waterloo,” the congresswoman is described as a “mega-narcissist” by one of her former aides; new details are revealed about the tension that led to the mass exodus of her campaign team led by Ed Rollins.
• The GOP figures who didn’t run and why—new details about Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee, and Mitch Daniels, and ultimately why they decided not to run in 2012, what went into their decision-making, and which former president suggested Daniels should run.
• Jon Huntsman—new stories that confirm the campaign’s dysfunction (or, as one former senior staff member called it, “McCain 2.0”).
• The implosion of Tim Pawlenty—authors reveal how he was a nonstarter on the fund-raising circuit and discuss his inability to confront Romney and Bachmann in the debates.
• President Obama—the latest plans by the president’s reelection team.

This gripping e-original also contains a fascinating chapter on the formation of the Tea Party and how much of a force it will be in next year’s presidential election.

Taking the Theodore White treatment into the twenty-first century, ELECTION 2012: The Battle Begins provides a fascinating glimpse into the men and women running for president on 2012 and the machinations propelling their journey.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Tom Bevan is the co-founder and executive editor of RealClearPolitics. Under Bevan’s editorial leadership, RealClearPolitics has grown into one of the most widely read political websites, with an average of 5 million readers every month.

Carl M. Cannon is the Washington editor for RealClearPolitics. Cannon has covered every presidential campaign and convention since1984 and has interviewed every US president since Gerald Ford. He covered the White House for fifteen years, during both the Clinton and Bush administrations, winning the two most prestigious journalism awards for presidential coverage.

THE REALCLEARPOLITICS POLITICAL DOWNLOAD

ELECTION 2012

The Battle Begins

By Tom Bevan & Carl M. Cannon

Published by Crown Publishers

On sale: November 11, 2011

Price: $2.99 * eBook original * ISBN: 978-0-307-98662-7

www.crownpublishing.com