Zioncheck for President: A True Story of Idealism and Madness in American Politics

Zioncheck is a frantic political-coming-of-age tale: a West Coast cousin to Michael Chabon's The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, with all of the latter's suspense and angst but with none of its gangsters or sex. Like Chabon, Campbell seems to have a knack for honestly portraying idealistic personal relationships and for communicating a sense of time and place in an unselfconscious way. Although the story occasionally detours to accommodate reality, it maintains a sense of nervous, jangling momentum, like an errant shopping cart rolling towards a shiny new car. The account of Marion Zioncheck's rise and fall - presented, for the most part, in brief vignettes which preface each chapter - is particularly well-written and does a good job of contrasting the author's claustrophobic, first-person view of local politics with the sort of dramatic, polished political biography that comes with years of hindsight. In the end, the book succeeds - as a cautionary tale for DIY politicians, a comedy of errors, a story of love and possibly an elegy to youthful idealism. If, like all things political, it is a complex, sometimes contradictory success, it is never a compromise.

Zioncheck for President is an eccentric memoir that takes a grassroots, leftist political campaign and turns it into a political romp anybody can enjoy (Mo Rocca's cover blurb isn't wrong!). Campbell manages a rare trick for a liberal writer -- he maintains a respect for his own politics and ideologies while not shoving them in the faces of his readers. His self-awareness and his dry sense of humor are spot on, and his story-line is funny, bizarre, tender, and oddly suspenseful. Just as interestingly, this is one of the most tightly structured memoirs I've ever read. Written almost like a novel, all the "characters" of this non-fiction work seem to echo off each other, reflecting larger ideas than just their idiosyncrasies would suggest. Highly recommended.