An incisive portrait of people trying to win the presidency in 2012. Among them are:
· Cal Regan, a rising political star who takes over the president's 2012 re-election campaign after O's veteran campaign chief has an affair with a teenage prostitute
· Maddy Cohan, a dazzling young journalist whose relationship with one of her sources could complicate her career
· Walter LaFontaine, one of O's earliest Chicago supporters who yearns for a larger role in his hero's re-election campaign
· Tom 'Terrific' Morrison, a one-term governor with a military background, who is emerging as the likely nominee and a formidable opponent.
· Allen Knowles, a wealthy Silicon Valley campaign donor who gives Cal Regan secret information which could be damaging to Morrison's campaign
Meanwhile, O is chafing under the demands of the presidency. His senior aides are running him too hard and, to his irritation, have advised him not to play golf on the weekends. To win re-election, he realizes he may have to adopt political methods he had once denounced.
As a work of speculative fiction, the details in O will soon be overtaken by events. But no chronicle is more likely to convey the interior life of the 2012 campaign - the issues they will confront, the compromises they will make, the lengths to which they will go for victory. O is a fascinating, entertaining and darkly intriguing novel for anyone who wants to understand what the president and his team are really thinking.
