Running With The Machine

$26.95

When Lynch retired from a 30-year career as a reporter and columnist, he decided to run for a seat in the New York State Assembly during the same campaign season as Hillary Rodham Clinton's run for the U.S. Senate. In this absorbing book, Lynch chronicles his campaign, running as an independent in the Democratic slot. He discovered a dimension of political skulduggery, treachery, and pettiness he'd never imagined, even as a cynical reporter. He recounts little financial support from the Democrats; fierce party infighting; and dirty politics by his opponent, a do-nothing pol who enjoyed the considerable advantages of incumbency. Lynch's former newspaper bent over backwards to prove its objectivity, barely reporting on the election. He found that the other local paper claimed to be nonpartisan but slanted coverage toward the incumbent. Having looked at life from the other side of the divide, Lynch is critical of the way the press covers campaign strategies rather than issues. This is an amusing, appalling, eye-opening look at the "dark, disturbing" political culture of the U.S.