Anything for a Vote

A rejacketed edition of one of our fun political backlist titles, complete with a reinvigorated interior, just in time for the 2016 election. The 2016 presidential election is looming on the horizon, and you know the campaigns are going to play rough--because dirty tricks and negative campaigning are as American as apple pie. Anything for a Vote chronicles more than 200 years of cheap shots and bad behaviour in presidential elections--from the 1796 contest between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson to the 2012 campaigns of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Along the way, we'll stop in: 1836 - Congressman Davy Crockett accuses candidate Martin Van Buren of secretly wearing women's clothing: He is laced up in corsets! 1864 - A Democratic newspaper alleges that Abraham Lincoln only changed his socks every 10 days. 1912 - Theodore Roosevelt is shot in the chest while preparing to give a campaign speech, then proceeds to deliver it anyway: I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a bull moose!1928 - Republicans warned that Roman Catholic candidate Al Smith was secretly plotting with the Pope -- and that the Holland Tunnel had a secret passageway leading directly to the Vatican! 1960 - Former president Harry Truman told voters that if you vote for Richard Nixon, you ought to go to hell! Rejacketed, redesigned, and expanded, this new edition of Anything for a Vote is still a valuable reminder that history does repeat itself, that lessons can be learned from the past (though they usually aren't), and that our most famous presidents are not above reproach when it comes to the dirtiest game of all-political campaigning.