At Any Cost: How Al Gore Tried to Steal the Election

By: Bill Sammon

Narrated by: Scotty Drake

Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Gore had known even before the first ballot of the 2000 election was recounted that this odds for success were slim. Oh, there was some genuine hope in the Gore camp, especially during those first heady hours, that a new tally would produce a new winner. But there was also a more realistic assessment of the situation. It bought them some time. One thing was certain: they couldn't wait until the conclusion of the recount, which would probably confirm Bush's win, to disabuse the press and public of the expectation of quick closure. If the Gore team didn't come up with a secondary strategy almost immediately, there would be tremendous pressure on the vice president to concede....

This book reads like a political thriller. It exposes all the behind-the-scenes manipulation and courtroom maneuvering that turned Florida's election upside down.

©2001 Bill Sammon (P)2012 Regnery Publishing

Fascinating Account of the 2008 Election Debacle

There is no stone left unturned --- and no chad left hanging --- in this detailed, fast-paced account of the 2008 Bush/Gore election and its disturbing aftermath. The author, a Washington Times reporter, is clearly not a fan of Mr. Gore, but I appreciated the fact that he makes no attempt to pretend otherwise. You know where he's coming from, and he does a good job of showing the reader what caused him to feel that way. But it's no caustic political screed, either. The author uses facts and first-hand accounts to tell the tale, and it works. The very real characters and their actions are so interesting on their own that that they don't need any additional puffery or authorial elaboration.

Admitedly, conservatives and libertarians will probably appreciate this book more than their counterparts on the left. The Gore team comes off looking extremely petty and political, and nobody wants to think their guy is THAT guy. I've looked, but I haven't been able to find an equally well-researched, fact-based account taken from the former Vice-President's perspective, which is regretful. I'm sure there are some mitigating factors and untold details that might soften the unflattering portrait of the Gore Team's actions, and there are probably some skeletons in the Right's closet as well. I'd like to hear both sides before cementing my own opinions on the matter. But if this was a trial and the facts in this book were the evidence at hand, the verdict would be unanimous: the right guy won. Pun intended.

Well Executed

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

What a story. Gets you inside one of the wildest elections ever.

What other book might you compare At Any Cost: How Al Gore Tried to Steal the Election to and why?

Not sure but looking forward to seeing what is written about 2016.