Henry Burton, a former congressional aide, is pressed into service as an assistant to Jack Stanton, the governor of a small Southern state who has set his sights on the presidency. Thus begins a rollicking adventure of backyard barbeques, draft-dodging dilemmas, sex and seduction scandals, and media mayhem. Combining familiar events with juicy behind-the-scenes gossip, the novel presents a unique picture of the politics of a nation which is at once tiredly cynical and hopefully idealistic. National ads/media.