Amy Chozick was the NYT reporter assigned to the 2016 Clinton campaign. She and the Travelers "made it through 577 days of the most noxious, soul-crushing presidential campaign in modern history." They thought they had covered the election of the FWP (first woman president). The author had covered Hillary's 2008 campaign for the Journal and was assigned by the Times to Hillary full-time in the summer of 2013. Unknown to the author, "Bill and Hillary both believed the paper was out to get them" because a Times reporter was the first to unearth the White River project that eventually led to Bill's travails with Ken Starr. The author's personal opponents were 'The Guys' (Hired Gun Guy, '08 Guy, Original Guy, Policy Guy, Brown Loafers Guy, Outsider Guy), the HRC media/pr team, who didn't particularly like her, reporters or the NYT. Chozick quickly ran afoul of The Guys after a few stories slighted the Clinton's. Even before HRC announced for the presidency, the paper of record was severely on the outs, and Chozick was persona non grata with the family. When Hillary's email debacle was unearthed, the Times ran very thorough coverage, further displeasing the Clinton's. The author's relentless witticisms are exemplified by her referring to the matter as Emailghazi. The email debacle haunted the campaign until the end and was an endless source of contention between the campaign and the journalists. The author also reminds us that HRC never quite articulated why she was running and Brooklyn (campaign HQ) never found a compelling theme or slogan. Neither I'm With Her nor Fighting For Us ever resonated like Feel The Bern, Make America Great Again, or for that matter, All The Way With LBJ. Iowa meant that the Travelers, most of whom were women finally got a campaign bus. "But by the time women reporters dominated Hillary's press corps, Twitter and live streaming and a female candidate who had zero interest in having a relationship with the press vastly diminished the campaign bus's place in the media ecosystem." An ongoing bone of contention between Hillary and the press was her refusal to have a plane that she would share with the Travelers. She broke with tradition by having a small plane and leaving the press to find its own way. HRC won Iowa by less than a point, and quite frankly, won by a coin toss in a handful of caucuses; the Guys and the family went nuts when the author referred to it as a psychological setback. Crushed in New Hampshire, Hillary moved on to the south where she won in SC and eventually locked up the nomination, vanquishing Bernie and his Boys. The general would prove to be a new ballgame. After Trump called Bill Clinton a rapist, HRC responded by saying Trump was unfit. "Hillary was still following the Romney playbook, not realizing she was the Romney in the race." A few New York pols told the campaign that they came out with boxing gloves on and Trump had a knife and a broken Coca-Cola bottle. In September, the Travelers finally achieved their primary goal - assigned seats on the campaign plane, which had an H on the tail and the phrase Stronger Together on the body. Hillary won all three debates, but it didn't really matter "because people just wanted to blow shit up." Thirteen days before the election, the FBI re-opened the email investigation because of the contemptible conduct of Anthony Weiner on a computer shared with his wife. Reading the last pages of this book is a shocking reminder of how everyone considered the matter a foregone conclusion in Clinton's behalf right up until the fateful night. First, Florida; then, Pennsylvania. "The most beautiful party I'd ever been to, a multicultural bouquet featuring the FWP, was starting to feel like a mass funeral." Chozick, like millions, was crushed by the outcome and cried the next day sitting in her cubicle at the Times.
The author is funny as hell and intersperses the story with her personal tale, replete with being broke in NYC, having no idea what she was doing, her iPhone app reminding her monthly"your fertile window is closing", and the endless goings-on, the drinking, the affairs, the egos, and the games on the campaign trail. This is a must read for anyone who voted Democratic, has a sense of humor and accepts that the Clinton campaign was one of the worst managed and least inspired in history. As a life long Times reader, I just totally loved learning what the vitamin pages are.
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