NARRATED BY THE AUTHOR, THIS Particular AUDIOBOOK Documenting OF Stress CITY INCLUDES EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW AND Issue EXCERPTS FROM 1960 THROUGH 2008!

“In his calm but intense way, Jim Lehrer earns the trust from the main political players of our period,” records Barbara Walters. “He explains and exposes their expectations and dreams, their strengths and failures because they try to place their best feet forward.”

From the person widely hailed as “the Dean of Moderators” comes a lively and uncovering publication that pulls about Tension City: Inside the Presidential Debates, from Kennedy-Nixon to Obama-McCain back the curtain on more than forty many years of televised political debate in America. A veteran newsman that has presided over eleven presidential and vice-presidential debates, Jim Lehrer provides visitors a ringside seat for some of the epic politics battles of our period, shedding light on every one of the critical turning factors and rhetorical faux pas that helped determine the outcome of America’s presidential elections-and with them the span of history. Drawing on his own encounters as “the person in the middle seat,” in-depth interviews using the candidates and his fellow moderators, and transcripts of key exchanges, Lehrer isolates and illuminates what he calls the “Major Moments” and “killer questions” that defined the debates, from Kennedy-Nixon to Obama-McCain.

Oftentimes these moments involve the candidates themselves and are seared into our collective political memory space. Michael Dukakis stumbles badly over a issue about the death penalty. Dan Quayle compares himself to John F. Kennedy once all too often. Barack Obama and John McCain hardly make eye contact over the course of a ninety-minute dialogue. At other times, the controversy moderators themselves become part of the story-and Lehrer will there be to provide us a backstage look at the play. Peter Jennings suggests astonishing the candidates by suspending the thoroughly negotiated rules mins before the 1988 presidential debate-to the consternation of his fellow panelists. Lehrer himself weathers a firestorm of criticism over his overall performance as moderator from the 2000 Bush-Gore debate. And there will be the excruciating moments when audio lines go deceased and TelePrompTers stay dark simply seconds prior to going on the surroundings live in front of a worldwide television target audience of millions.

Asked last but not least his experience like a participant in high-level televised debates, President George H. W. Bush memorably likened them to an evening in “pressure town.” In Jim Lehrer’s absorbing insider account, we discover out that truer words were under no circumstances spoken.