The Undecided Voter's Guide to the Next President: Who the Candidates Are, Where They Come From, and How You Can Choose

Mark Halperin has created a guide for all voters, regardless of age - for the current as well as for future political contests. This book is great for anyone who wants to understand the American election process and how we got there. Halperin tells us not only about the candidates and their views - but allows us to see how they might govern if they are victorious in their quest for the Presidency. After what we've witnessed during the past 20 years - more than ever, we better not take this choice lightly! (Jerry Marcus is author of The Salvation Peddler, The Last Pope: A Novel, and the just-released Broken Trust - The Murder Of Basketball Star Jack Molinas.)

This book provides detailed and balanced information about each of the primary candidates, just when the media has decided that only covering the horse race is interesting. In a year when so many new voters and independents are engaging in the process, the author's easy-to-use menu of issues as well as overall human qualities gives readers a lot of information in an easy to digest format. I've purchased this for two nieces and recommended it to many others during this exciting political year.

I am reviewing those two books together because they cover the same topic. And, I find a review comparing them more relevant and timely than reviewing them on a stand alone basis. I read them simultaneously on the coverage of the same candidates to observe if I would get different information. I actually got very similar info as I could not detect any political bias. But, the way these books impart the information is different. Thus, there is no difference in substance but there is a huge difference in style. Within Election 2008: A Voter's Guide (A New Republic Book) the coverage of each candidate is written by a different writer. After a short curriculum on the candidate, these writers write out a long narrative essay that could qualify as an article in the New Yorker. Those essays also come across as a book summary on the candidates. For a checklist of the candidate's specific position you have to refer to the Appendix. `The Undecided Voter's Guide' is structurally very different. The entire book is written by a single author. The coverage of each candidate is thoroughly structured as a user friendly manual or almost a college (Presidential) application package. It starts as the Voter's Guide with a curriculum on the candidate. Next, it moves on to a very detailed description of the candidate's position on all major issues. Then it goes on to a narrative section that is less sophisticated than the one in `A Voter's Guide.' Then it systematically covers the following headings: a) Areas of Potential Controversy; b) Why this specific candidate can win the General Election; c) Why this specific candidate can't win the General Election; d) The best case for candidate X presidency; e) The worst case for candidate X presidency; f) What to expect if candidate X is President; g) What supporters say; h) What detractors say; i) Facts and stories; j) Quirks, habits, and hobbies; k) The Undecided Voter's Guide Questionnaire. Another area where the books differ is on setting up the political context. `A Voter's Guide' has an excellent historical analysis of the evolutionary changes within the parties and how they shaped Presidential elections since the late 1800s. This is one of the last chapters in the book, and I recommend you read it first. `The Undecided Voter's Guide' has no counterpart to this thorough historical analysis. Instead, it briefly touches on similar themes within the introduction. But, the latter is not even as thorough as A Voter's Guide's own short introduction. These two books cater to different audiences. `The Undecided Voter's Guide' is excellent to extract a maximum amount of information really quickly. It is an excellent tool for the political novice. `A Voter's Guide,' although better written, does not deliver the information quite so readily and is catered to the more sophisticated reader. I am not talking about intelligence here; I am talking about political engagement. An MIT engineer who is fairly

I absolutely love politics and was so excited when I found this book. I have been an undecided voter the last few months. I am willing to vote in either party and was hoping this book would give me some clarity. It did!! The book does a great job giving you background information on the candidates, an explanantion of their major beliefs, and a good description of what it would be like if they were President. This book helped me decide which party to vote for in the primary, and now I am deciding between two candidates. It is easy to read and makes you more excited about the election. I hope the author, Mark Halperin, will write another book comparing the two nominees (along with the third party candidates) in even more detail. The author also had a section on Michael Bloomberg who will probably run as an independent. The only negative I have about this book is that it didn't go into as much detail with the second-tier candidates. How can a second-tier candidate become a first- tier candidate when the media doesn't give him as much focus? Thank you for an easy, fun read!!! I look forward to voting in 2008.

This is an wonderfully interesting and entertaining book. I learned so much about the presidential candidates--their personal stories, their families, their issue positions, what they stand for, and what they would be like in the White House. The choice we have to make in the 2008 election will be historic, and we need to know how the next president will lead the nation once in office. The book is easy to read, funny, and filled with great information. I learned about Hillary Clinton's childhood, John McCain's POW experience in Vietnam and his Senate ups and downs, Mitt Romney's CEO acumen, Barack Obama's amazing background and his early career, Fred Thompson's life choices, John Edwards' dramatic story, Rudy Giuliani's impact on New York City, and the incredible bios and key political views of Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, Michael Bloomberg, Mike Huckabee, Joe Biden, and all the others. I now feel I truly understand these candidates, as people and as politicians. I am still an undecided voter, but this book has helped me so much, and has prepared me for next year's campaign and election. Every citizen should read it--it is an essential guide for all of us!