An Outsider’s Guide to Running—and Losing—a California Election
Pete Peterson, a Republican from Santa Monica, Learned How Much the Deck Is Stacked in Favor of Career Politicians
Though Ted White’s classic, The Making of the President, is far better known, the best book I’ve read about what it’s like to run for political office is To Be a Politician by Stimson Bullitt. In the 1950s, Bullitt ran twice as a Democratic Congressional candidate in his home district of Seattle—and lost both times.
“Men and women are drawn into politics for a combination of motives,” he writes. “These include power, glory, zeal for contention or success, duty, hate, oblivion, hero worship, curiosity, and enjoyment of the work.”
I ran …
