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The People's Choice: A Novel

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What happens if the President-elect of the United States dies before the Electoral College has a chance to officially vote him in? What happens if the Vice President-elect is a man who nobody dreams could be President? What happens if the highest office in the land is suddenly up for grabs—and the most ruthless pols, the smoothest power brokers, the minions of the media, and just plain ordinary citizens get into the wildest act in the three-ring circus of American politics?

You don’t have to wonder. A four-time Emmy winner and veteran of CNN and ABC News, Jeff Greenfield has written a novel that does for politics what Catch-22 did for war. Read it and weep—with sidesplitting laughter.

“A juicy, laugh-out-loud novel written with biting wit and piercing satire . . . hilariously plausible.”— Washington Post Book World

“This year’s meanest, funniest, liveliest political novel!”— Philadelphia Inquirer

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

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About the author

Jeff Greenfield

39 books21 followers
Jeff Greenfield (b. 1943) is one of the most prominent political writers in the United States. Born in New York City, he went to college in Wisconsin, and received a law degree from Yale. He entered politics in the late 1960s, as a speechwriter for Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and has covered the beltway ever since, contributing to Time, the New York Times Magazine, Esquire, and, in a lighter vein, National Lampoon. His first novel, The People’s Choice, was released in 1995, and ruthlessly satirized the foibles of the Clinton era. His most recent book, Then Everything Changed, is a series of novellas looking at how American history might have been different if small political events had turned out differently. Greenfield divides his time between New York and Connecticut.

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5 stars
64 (22%)
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114 (40%)
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80 (28%)
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23 (8%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
Profile Image for Melki.
7,318 reviews2,623 followers
February 7, 2017
"I have ever considered the constitutional mode of election…as the most dangerous blot on our constitution, and one which some unlucky chance will some day hit."
---Thomas Jefferson, 1823

"You win some, you lose some. And then there's that little-known third category."
--- Al Gore, 2004

"The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy."
--- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012


___________________________________


If life turns on a dime, our political history turns on a plugged nickel.

Holy Moses! An absolute idiot will become President unless the electoral college decides to vote against him!

This story may sound as though it was torn from today's last month's headlines, but it was actually dreamed up by Greenfield in 1995.

When the popular President-Elect buys the farm just days after the election, the country is faced with the horrific thought of having the imbecilic Vice President bumbling into the Oval Office.

description
No, not this dim bulb, but one much like him.

. . . it was going to be about choices about the Supreme Court, the tax code, our relations with the community of nations, and control over the nuclear arsenal, which could wipe life as we know it off the face of the earth, and all of this, all of it, was about to pass into the hands of a man most of the country would not trust to program a VCR.

An unlikely heroine arises in the person of mild-mannered Dorothy Ledger, an electoral college elector who leads a rebellion against the presumptive moron.

"Every time he opens his mouth, those bastards make him sound like some kind of idiot."

"Yes, right," Dorothy said, shaking her head. "But you know, Charles, I have this terrible feeling that maybe he keeps looking like an idiot because, once you get past the media distortions, he is an idiot."


This unusual story manages to provide nail-biting thrills and chills without car chases, albino monks, or shiny vampires. You won't be able to tear yourself away as people lock themselves in rooms with urns of coffee to debate constitutional law. No, really. It's pretty entertaining, surprisingly prescient, and also pretty funny.

And, hmm . . . I wonder who this could possibly be?

. . . you know that New York billionaire real-estate schmuck wants to come to the funeral with his bimbo? And you know what he wants? He wants to sit on the right side of the Rotunda because he photographs better from that side.

This one is definitely worth a read, though the ending seems a bit of a fantasy . . . career politicians exhibiting scruples and common decency?

Yeah, right.

Like that would ever happen.
Profile Image for Michael  Morrison.
307 reviews15 followers
July 11, 2017
Author Jeff Greenfield has attempted the difficult, a political tract disguised as a novel … or perhaps he intended “The People’s Choice” as a novel with a political message.
As a novel, “The People’s Choice” is excellent. It is funny, it has characters that are full-fleshed, including some who are admirable.
In fact, one of his characters surprises us by being so completely honorable, a characteristic not often found in novels (or politics) of today.
Mr. Greenfield is not an author from whom I would have expected humor, but perhaps I was just uninformed. His dedication reads, “To my father, Ben Greenfield, who taught me to love baseball, the Marx Brothers, punctuality, W. C. Fields, and who was always, always there.”
In “The People’s Choice,” Mr. Greenfield demonstrates great cynicism about politicians and about people in the “news” business, and I expect most of us can accept and agree with that.
He also demonstrates great knowledge: “It is impossible to be counted as a sophisticated observer of American culture unless you enthusiastically embrace the idea that our mass media define reality. As Bishop Berkeley might ask today: If a tree falls in the forest and it did not make the six o’clock news, did it make a sound? Did it, in fact, fall at all?”
Now how often does a novelist, how often does anybody bring Bishop Berkeley into the conversation?
(Bishop Berkeley’s philosophical antithesis was David Hume. Of the two of them it was written “No matter. Never mind.”)
The point of his political tract is to convince us to eliminate the Electoral College. As a novel, “The People’s Choice” is excellent, a joy to read; as a political tract, it is a failure.
It fails on several fronts, philosophical, historical, and psychological.
Mr. Greenfield made a major effort to bring history to bear on his position, but though he gets most of his facts right, he misses the truth, he misses, or ignores, the reason the Electoral College was created, and he misses, or ignores, the fact that these United States were joined in a federal union of sovereign states.
His psychological flaw was illustrated, was spelled out, in another novel, Glenn Beck’s “The Overton Window.” One of Mr. Beck’s bad guys said it perfectly: “… Societies need government. Governments elevate men into power, and men who seek power are prone to corruption. It spreads like a disease, then, corruption on corruption, and sooner or later the end result is always a slide into tyranny. That’s the way it’s always been. And so this government of the United States was brilliantly designed to keep that weakness of human nature in check, but it required the people to participate daily, to be vigilant, and they have not. …”
In fact, presidential elections are often decided by about 25 percent of the people who could have voted.
Of course, there are several reasons, including that election laws and “news” media discriminate so blatantly, against parties that aren’t Democrat or Republican, against candidates who don’t start out with lots of money.
Those reasons are only hinted at in “The People’s Choice” and in the “news” media and the schools, so we are again made grateful for the new media, including the Internet.
“The People’s Choice” was published by the Penguin Group, 1996.
Profile Image for 3 no 7.
751 reviews24 followers
March 30, 2016
This is a must-read for this political season today, even though it was written twenty years ago.

It was a contentious presidential election filled with backroom shenanigans, but finally the Republican candidate won. A few days after the election, the president-elect went to Wyoming to appear in a parade with children with disabilities. The unthinkable happens when the president-elect is thrown from the horse, and DIES. Now what?

The fate of the nation now is in the hands of the Electoral College. Everyone agrees that the former vice-presidential elect is barely functional and certainly not qualified to actually be president. What will happen when the Electoral College meets?

Tensions are high, and the economy is tanking. No one even knows who those Electoral College members are, and now they are choosing the next president. As the leaders of both parties try to salvage the election and solidify their power, some electors realize just what power they do have.

The book is peppered with historical examples of all possible outcomes to lend realism to the story. It is a roller coaster ride to the surprise ending, and well worth the trip.
Profile Image for Mel.
46 reviews6 followers
June 3, 2010
I'm reading this for a second time because I enjoyed it so much the first time years ago. What makes it interesting this time is the difference in perspective. The book deals with what happens when a president is voted into office, but dies before the electoral college meets. Do they have to vote for his vice president, who is a Dan Quayle bumbling idiot? Some of the electors don't think so.

I read this the first time before the 2000 election, before the popular vote went one way and the electoral count went the other. It's also pre-Internet age, and the look at media and how it reacts seems quite prescient, reading it now.

I'd recommend this book for any political or media junkie who is, or should be, terrified that we still have an electoral college.
Profile Image for Elaine.
289 reviews
September 19, 2015
You, too, can read this and understand the Electoral College while laughing.
102 reviews
October 21, 2020
I loved this book in 1995, when it was merely absurd and satirical; still love it in 2020, when ... yeah, something like that could actually happen. Meticulously researched without being wonky, or God forbid, boring, this is the story of what happens when the president-elect dies after the election but before the Electoral College meets — and the Vice President-elect is not a well-liked man. Electoral hijinks ensue, combined with media insanity and wild political back room dealing. The remarkable thing about this book is that even though it was written when the internet was in its infancy, when cellphones were a novelty and Jack Dorsey was a freshman in college, it’s not dated at all. I have experience in these worlds, and the characters and motivations and emotions haven’t aged at all. And while a lot of these characters are clearly based on real people who were prominent in the ‘90s, you don’t need to know or remember them to appreciate the story - the fictional versions are that well drawn. I love Jeff Greenfield’s quirky authorial voice - so consistently written throughout. And I love this line the most, from a scene about planning the pres-elect’s funeral: “You know that New York billionaire real-estate schmuck wants to come to the funeral with his bimbo?” The schmuck is never named, but you know who it is. People had his number in 1995. Hell, in 1985 (says this Spy mag reader). Oh, well. Anyway, read this. It’s awesome.
Profile Image for Fred Snyder.
157 reviews1 follower
May 20, 2019
As a product of it's time, this book is clever, about politics and presidential elections. The president-elect dies before the electoral college meets.
But it has not aged well in the past 20 years. Some of the hypothetical situations in the book have practically come true. Presidential electors must choose between blind party loyalty and ... well, the problem is there aren't too many other options, but a few try to find a way that will save the country and not give up their morals.
There's also a lot of idolizing reporters and political agents who do their work out of a sense of duty, to the exclusion of everything else. Perhaps a little biased, given the author.

I was not too fond of the author's use of the bullet point as a stylistic technique, especially each bullet was a page long.
Profile Image for Christopher Key.
Author 1 book1 follower
March 26, 2021
This book was written in 1995, but it could just as well have been written in 2020. The political dysfunction that gave the US the heebie-jeebies in 2020 has been going on far longer than that. Greenfield savages politicians, the press, political activists, lobbyists with a deadly accurate eye and still manages to be funny about it. Best of all, he makes the finest case yet for the abolition of that Constitutional nightmare, the Electoral College. You'll want to race through this edge-of-your seat story, but take your time and enjoy the joyfully cynical prose. And appreciate the author for giving us a picture of an endangered species: an honourable Republican.
1 review
February 26, 2019
I think that this was an expertly written novel which explored the lesser known realities of our electoral college and media. It is a better way to learn how the election process works in emergencies than memorizing and learning via textbook (that is, for students). It is necessary to read about the dark sides of our government so we are not completely ignorant, if the bare minimum is the goal. As for the writing style, Jeff Greenfield does a great job of keeping his protagonist grounded to earth in order for his personality to mean something to the readers.
Profile Image for Blair.
47 reviews1 follower
May 18, 2018
Jeff Greenfield has been a fixture of political reporting for decades and this, his first novel, was published to high acclaim in 1995. It's quite good in that it imparts the timeless feel of a presidential campaign, but its characterizations and plot contrivances definitely feel of a time.
Profile Image for Emma.
8 reviews
November 4, 2020
Really enjoyable, and a good reminder that politics and elections have and will always be weird. Fun election facts sprinkled into an energetic story. Reading 25 years after publication, the book serves as a window back to the days of 24 hour news networks before ubiquitous internet use.
Profile Image for James .
300 reviews
December 25, 2017
Despite the overly ponderous prose at times, it's an entertaining read. Great premise for the novel and the author packs in lots of neat factoids about American political history.
Profile Image for Bradley Brill.
252 reviews1 follower
March 29, 2022
Intriguing story. An unusual exception in that the author does a fine job narrating his book.
10 reviews
June 30, 2019
Although written 20 years ago, it could very well be talking about today's elections!
Profile Image for Rachael.
148 reviews7 followers
July 30, 2013
A for effort, D for execution.

The plot of this novel is intriguing. A president-elect dies soon after the election. His buffoonish vice-president (based on the date of publication, I'm guessing he had Dan Quayle in mind) inspired confidence in exactly no one. Although the general election was over and the popular vote tallied, the electoral college had not yet met to make it official. So what happens? Is the electoral college required to vote for the vice-president elect, even if they have strong objections? What about the people's will who, in polling, strongly dislike and have little to no faith in the veep?

Although this was written long before 2008, I could not help but conjure Sarah Palin when thinking about this scenario. McCain was older (although tragedies can befall anyone at anytime of course) and while Palin certainly had her fan-base, she also was an extremely polarizing figure even within the party. So what would have happened if McCain died and left vice-president elect Palin at the helm? Would/could the electoral college stop such a scenario?

The problem came with the execution. The characters and writing were just not well done. He introduced way too many characters early on with long and sometimes unnecessary back stories only to ignore them for the next several chapters. Introductions aside, the characters were poorly developed and boring.

This book was a big disappointment because it had so much potential. The book cover advertised that the movie rights had been bought? Maybe that it was being developed? I can't remember. Anyway, I'd be really interested to see what a more able story teller could do with such a fantastic idea.
Profile Image for Laura.
109 reviews8 followers
May 10, 2011
A President-Elect dies shortly after the election, and chaos is loosed on the United States. This is a fascinating and well-researched book. The cast of characters was large, and I sometimes found the the frequently-shifting settings and POVs to be a little distracting, but it was well-written, humorous at times even though the subject was anything but, and it made me think. It's not necessarily a novel for everyone, but if you're a political junkie, and/or have ever wondered what would happen if the electoral college that actually elects our President every four years were ever to become more than just a formality, this book paints a frightening and all-too-plausible scenario. As the subtitle notes, it's definitely a cautionary tale.
Profile Image for Brent.
2,251 reviews196 followers
June 6, 2017
Looking for a book that takes on the mysteries of the electoral college? No, huh?
I have always liked journalist Jeff Greenfield, since finding his byline in the National Lampoon at the same time he analyzed national elections on network tv. That is the spirit of this novel, a comedy of politics and journalism, written about the same time Joe Klein wrote and published Primary Colors, under the byline "anonymous." In fact, Klein appears here in a brief allusion to "Klein of Newsweek," for which news organ his column appeared twenty years ago.
Greenfield is great; this novel is novel, but less than great. It's fun, though.
And in two years we will be scratching our heads about the electoral college again...
Mildly recommended.
Profile Image for Stacia.
Author 18 books33 followers
August 7, 2016
Imagine that after the presidential election but before the electoral college vote, the presumed president-elect dies. The vice president-elect is put forward by his party as its presidential candidate--only he quickly proves that he is not up to the task. According to the Constitution, the president has yet to be elected; that's the duty of the electoral college, not the people--only some members of the electoral college have decided to vote their conscience. This book was published in the mid-1990s (which is when I originally read it), before the Bush/Gore election in 2000, and it's a hilarious and eerily prescient view of what "could" happen.
Profile Image for Mike Boothe.
10 reviews10 followers
September 7, 2016
This was the 2nd time I've read this book, and considering the election craziness we are all caught up in, I won't be surprised if it happens. The president-elect dies 4 days after the election (not a spoiler) and before the Electoral College meets. But if you think the vice-president elect just moves up to be the president, you would be wrong. There is no process or procedure or guidance on what is to be done. Oops.

This would make a great movie, part comedy, part drama, but it makes you think a bit. Greenfield likes to write "what if..." books and this would be a doozy of a "what if..."
36 reviews1 follower
May 18, 2008
Candidate and winner of the November presidential election dies before the Electoral College actually votes him in. The mayhem that ensues deals with the reality that the Electoral College MUST elect our President. Many of the "fictional" characters are based on real people, and part of the fun of the book is figuring out who is who (in real life). This was an enjoyable book that I was reading when I was a big Imus fan. He hyped Greenfield all the time and highly recommended the book. I concur with his assessment.
Profile Image for Bonnie.
49 reviews
July 5, 2008
I read this book BEFORE we had to start doubting the validity of Presidential election results. This novel considers how a new President could be selected if the President-elect dies between the election and the inauguration. (Given that NOBODY wants the VP-Elect to take over!) THis is a funny book that you won't want to put down. I thoroughly enjoyed it and ready to read it again, now that we have had a couple of questionable elections since then. Back cover text has good reviews from the late Tim Russert, Diane Sawyer, and James Carville and Mary Matalin.
Profile Image for Brian Watson.
18 reviews1 follower
August 29, 2007
Satirical novel set around a rather scary political possibility. Greenfield -- a great reporter and analyst -- does a great job developing a number of different characters (all interesting) while injecting humor and irony throughout. A solid, quick read for political junkies sick of the usual stuff.
Profile Image for Sherri.
94 reviews
November 30, 2012
Cautionary tale is the write description! This could really happen, and I don't think current electoral rules or laws or the Constitution clearly deal with it. Laws and the Constitutions of states and the federal government deal with parts, but not the whole of the matter. It a gray area and requires some creativity to get to where presidential succession takes over.
Profile Image for Jamie.
413 reviews8 followers
December 14, 2020
I first read this about a decade ago when I still fervently loved analyzing politics. I'm pleased to have it renew a little of that fervor considering how much the political climate has been, shall we say, displeasing of late.
Profile Image for Shae.
82 reviews
February 29, 2008
I am not one for political satire books but this one is hilarious! I read it in two days cuz I had to know the outcome.
111 reviews
January 4, 2009
Very funny but on the money about our political shortcomings in our electoral system. People who read this prior to November must have had their anxieties raised! Good insight!
406 reviews4 followers
November 11, 2009
An hilarious tale of polictics, the electoral college and the ironies of people stepping up to the plate unexpectedly. Makes you wonder...
Profile Image for Lisa Kelly.
8 reviews2 followers
November 30, 2010
The premise was too good not to try and the story did not disappoint. I loved it!
Profile Image for Vicki Brooks.
8 reviews
August 26, 2013
I enjoyed this book. A lot of characters that I got confused with at first but then it cleared up. Politics....pretty scary!!
Profile Image for Christopher White.
Author 1 book11 followers
August 29, 2016
An entertaining and thought-provoking what-if book, about how a series of plausible events can throw the Electoral College system into a chaotic tailspin, in the full glare of the modern media....
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews

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