Deadlock: The Inside Story of America's Closest Election - Hardcover

David Von Drehle is a former assistant managing editor of the Post who for the past two years has been covering presidential politics for the paper. He is also a former staff reporter for The Miami Herald, where he reported extensively on the workings of the Florida court system. He is the author of Among the Lowest of the Dead: Inside Death Row. Ellen Nakashima covers the White House for the Post and is the co-author (with David Maraniss) of The Prince of Tennessee, a biography of Al Gore.

This isn't quite an instant book; it took about the same time to be published as the 2000 presidential election took to be decided. And though light on context, the narrative, written by the political staff of the Washington Post , is heavy on facts; anyone who wants to know what really happened during those 37 days of waiting for a president will find plenty of information here. The gossipy, behind-the-scenes stuff is the most interesting, but there's not as much of it as curious readers might want: we do learn, however, that on election night it was G. W. who called Jeb Bush "little brother" before Gore did. Mostly, though, there is a lot of talk here about lawyers, plenty about counting techniques, and, just as in the election, too much about chads. What readers will see is how Gore came to lose an election he in fact may have won: by conceding, however briefly, thus giving the impression that Bush was the winner; by getting into a tangle over votes from the military stationed overseas; and by having the misfortune to be in "little brother's" state. Jeb Bush immediately enlisted the help of the best Florida law firms, giving the Bush team a leg up when it came to having those in the local know on their side. A useful first draft of history. Ilene Cooper
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