The Big Enchilada: Campaign Adventures with the Cockeyed Optimists from Texas Who Won the Biggest Prize in Politics

The author comes right out and tells you that he is a big supporter of president Bush. Given that he worked on the 2000 Bush presidential campaign, that comment is not too surprising and given the wink-wink objectivity that some authors try to insert into these type of books, it was a bit refreshing. This book delivers exactly what it is selling, an insiders account from the 2000 Bush presidential campaign that is humorous, biting and pro Bush. The author was part of the team that put together the television ads. One of the reasons this book is so good is that this author makes a living getting peoples attention with, partially, words. The book is sharp and crisp, there are no parts that really lag. He keeps the story moving at a nice pace and finds ways to make even room service ordering interesting. I think the two most interesting parts of the book for me detailed how the campaign and Bush dealt with the debates and the view of the Gore team from the opposing bench. I found the detail of how Bush prepared for the debates to be insightful, especially now that he has been in office for four years. Plus all the nit picking rules that go into the actual debate set up are well worth your time (one has thoughts of Koran peace treaty negotiations). I thought the other section of the book that was not only humorous, but also very telling was the comments on how the Bush team thought Gore was doing. The Bush team, as well as almost political junky in American, just could not understand how Gore could let a huge lead in the polls and all the history, economic prosperity and peace advantages he had slip away. Gore's mistakes are detailed in the book and it really goes to show you how a bad team can make all the difference in a campaign. Overall I liked the book. It is not a complete view of the campaign, only the view from the Bush team. It does not really cover the recount drama and could not be used as the end all be all of year 2000 campaign books. But what is does do is entertain the reader and give him or her a few insights. I think the only negative I could find in the book was the author kind of let his hair down on the last few pages and took a number of shots at all things Democratic. It seamed like some sour grapes at the end and the book would have ended just as well without it. Then again I would assume this was a little preaching to the choir from the author. If you are a huge fan of president Bush then this book will be a nice read for you. If you are a rabid Gore supporter then I would suggest looking else where.

Wow! No matter what your political bent, this book is a quirky peak into the political subculture of presidential campaigns. Althought this book appears to be 100% political, the story really revolves around the stressful, intense, and humerous life of political marketing. It's also a great biography of George W. Bush. It reinforces the notion that Bush is really a genuine guy. What he lacks in political saviness, he definitely makes up in sincerity and honesty! Well written book deserves a read!

If a lot of the what went on during the 2000 presidential election still remains a source of debate, at least one thing can be agreed upon. The 2000 election was one of the strangest, most improbable elections in recent history. Unfortunately, it has failed to produce the usual number of behind-the-scenes campaign memoirs that usually follow hard fought elections. The majority of the books concerning the 2000 election all seem to center on the whole mess down in Florida and for the most part, are distinguished only by an unseemly amount of either bitterness or gloating depending on the partisan affiliations of their author. However, there haven't been many of the fun, joy-of-politics type memoirs as one might expect.Which is why the discovery of Stuart Stevens' The Big Enchilada filled this political junkie with an indescribable happiness. Devoting only a bare miminum of its pages to reliving the whole Florida fiasco (Because who isn't sick of rehashing all of that by now?), the Big Enchilada is instead a lively, very witty account of the free wheeling and ultimately succesful presidential campaign for George W. Bush -- from its genesis in an Austin steakhouse all the way to the final lawsuit. Writing in a breezy, always readable style, Stevens manages to avoid the pompous posturing that has marred so many other campaign books. Nor does he use the book to try to turn himself into some sort of mythological hero (as opposed to the campaign memoirs of Dick Morris, Ed Rollins, and other political consultants.) Instead, Stevens provides a witty account of all the campaign milestones that made up 2000 -- Bush's battle for the soul of the Republican Party with John McCain, the brief near-scandal over accusations of subliminal advertising being slipped into Bush campaign ads (and no, Stevens can't quite figure out just what all that was about either), and perhaps most wittily of all, the infamous Bush/Gore debates. (A great deal of space is devoted to Bush's preperations for the debates. At one point, the Senator pretending to be Gore wanders over to Bush and tries to stare him down. A laughing Bush replies, "Is he really going to do that?") Along with being a politcal consultant, Stevens is a novelist of some acclaim and he writes this book with a strong eye towards character. People who were once only names become vividly human as a result of their memoir -- Karl Rove in all his intensely laid back glory, Al Gore with his school marmish attitude towards the very voters he sought to impress, and others. George W. Bush, himself, comes across as a man so laid back and likeable that you almost regret that he had to lower himself down to the level of politics. This is a book that even as it recounts the big events of the campaign, still finds time to record the little, human details that otherwise would never be reported. Stevens' book is one of the best, most entertaining campaign memoirs -- of the 2000 or any other election -- ever writte

Stevens escorts you through the inside of the most amazing campaign ride in American history. From his inner circle position on the Bush campaign staff, he uniquely shapes the story by masterfully chronicling some of his colleague's, (and his boss's) laugh-out-loud "one liners" along the way. Most surprisingly, he does this with an attractive humility RARELY seen in political strategists. Great read.

Stu Stevens has given quite a contribution here. He writes the inside story of a campaign with the players we have come to know: Rove, Hughes, Bolton, Lindsey, and Rice- although they weren't well known in 1999 when Karl Rove sketched out his winning plan on a coffee house napkin in Austin. This work also shows the relationship that Bush had with others in his campaign, and how people who worked for George W. actually liked him- which Stevens says is a rarity in presidential campaigns. He does an excellent job capturing the real George W. Bush- a man comfortable being who he is, with a laid back yet demanding leadership style. He shows George W. as unflappable, even in the darkest moments of the campaign. This book also gives humorus insights into things like convention and debate preparation, and the little quirks of Gore that got on everyone's nerves toward the end. But most of all, this book shows the tenacity of a campaign that refused to say die, and won the biggest prize in politics. A must read for political junkies, or fans of President Bush...all a Gore person would get from this book is higher blood pressure.