The End of the Line: Romney vs. Obama (POLITICO Inside Election 2012)

By: Glenn Thrush, Jonathan Martin

Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain

Length: 2 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Thirty-four days that decided the election.

The fourth and final installment in POLITICO’s Playbook 2012 series once again provides an unprecedented minute-by-minute account of the race for the presidency. The End of the Line follows President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney as their campaign teams go all-in to win in the critical final weeks of the 2012 election.

From Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” video to Clint Eastwood’s speech to an empty chair, the 2012 presidential campaign did not lack for memorable moments. In The End of the Line, POLITICO senior White House reporter Glenn Thrush and senior political reporter Jonathan Martin chronicle every hairpin turn in a race that defied the predictions of pundits and prognosticators.

While some political observers considered Barack Obama’s reelection far from a sure thing, the president and his team remained resolute in their belief that they would prevail. In Boston, Mitt Romney’s advisers were just as confident that their man was headed for a smashing victory. In the end, only one of those views would be validated by events. The outcome of this election was never foreordained, however, and would ultimately be determined by two candidates, three debates, and a thousand small but critical strategic decisions.

With an eye toward writing a “first draft of history”, Thrush and Martin report on the intense internal debates over ad strategy that defined the parameters of the fall campaign - including a crucial late-May decision by the Obama campaign that may have tipped the scales in the president’s favor. They provide a behind-the-scenes look at the candidates’ debate preparation sessions, and they reveal why Romney’s campaign was so confident they were going to win.

The action climaxes on election night, as the opposing camps huddle nervously in their hotel suites to await the verdict of the voters. The End of the Line reveals for the first time what the Obama brain trust really thought about the agonizingly long wait for Romney’s official concession - and what happened after Obama put the telephone to his ear and heard the words “Hello, Mr. President, it’s Mitt Romney.”

No one could have predicted all the twists and turns of the 2012 election - and no one was better equipped to chronicle them than the POLITICO team. The End of the Line is frontline campaign reporting at its finest, meticulously reported and compulsively listenable.

©2012 Glenn Thrush and Jonathan Martin (P)2012 Random House Audio

Great insight

What made the experience of listening to The End of the Line: Romney vs. Obama (POLITICO Inside Election 2012) the most enjoyable?

Just the enter working of the campaign

What did you like best about this story?

The way the Republicans thought they were going to win

What does Mike Chamberlain bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Well he made it interesting.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No extreme reaction, did laugh at some parts.

Any additional comments?

No

Short, Sweet and Informative

What made the experience of listening to The End of the Line: Romney vs. Obama (POLITICO Inside Election 2012) the most enjoyable?

This was just a fun read to listen to. Very short and sweet (maybe too short) but I liked how the story was narrated and I felt like I was being told something confidential. It was just something fun to listen to after the election was complete.

What did you like best about this story?

How I felt like I was a "fly on the wall."

Which character – as performed by Mike Chamberlain – was your favorite?

The campaign staff

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The end when all hell was breaking loose.