Double Down

John Heilemann · Mark Halperin

Nov 2013 · Random House

About this ebook

‘What am I supposed to do when he starts spewing his bullshit?’ Barack Obama preparing for his first debate with Mitt Romney


In their runaway bestseller Game Change / Race of a Lifetime, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann captured the full drama of Barack Obama’s improbable, dazzling victory over the Clintons, John McCain and Sarah Palin. With the same masterly reporting, unparalleled access, and narrative skill, Double Down picks up the story in the Oval Office, where the president is beset by crises both inherited and unforeseen – facing defiance from his political foes, disenchantment from voters, disdain from the nation’s powerful finance figures and dysfunction within the West Wing. As 2012 looms, leaders of the Republican Party, salivating over Obama’s political fragility, see a chance to wrestle back control of the White House – and the country.

So how did the Republicans screw it up? How did Obama survive the onslaught and defy the predictions of a one-term presidency? Double Down follows the gaudy carnival of Republican contenders – ambitious and flawed, famous and infamous, charismatic and cartoonish – as Mitt Romney, the straitlaced, can-do, gaffe-prone multimillionaire from Massachusetts, scraped and scratched his way to the nomination, while Obama is seen storming out of a White House meeting with his high command after accusing them of betrayal, and gradually transforming a tense détente with Bill Clinton into political gold.

Double Down takes you into back rooms and closed-door meetings, laying bare the secret history of the 2012 campaign in a panoramic account of an election that was as hard fought as it was lastingly consequential.

Ratings and reviews

It never fails top amaze just how dysfunctional presidential campaigns can be behind the scenes. The authors manage to lay out every calamity and misspoken word in glorious detail.

About the author

John Heilemann and Mark Halperin are two of the most acclaimed political reporters in the United States, with unrivalled access to the presidential candidates and their teams throughout the campaign. John Heilemann is the national political correspondent and columnist for New York magazine. He is a National Magazine Award finalist and a former staff writer for the New Yorker, the Economist, and Wired. Mark Halperin is editor-at-large and senior political analyst for Time, founding editor of The Page on time.com, and former political director of ABC News.