>I can recall when Reagan was running for a second term. I got off of work at 4 PM and turned on the radio for the latest news. “Anyone in California do not bother voting. Reagan won the election”! The same message was on the television news. Our polls close at 8 PM.
>
>You have to watch Texans who run for political office – even those born in Connecticut. A documentary about how LBJ first ran for office was interesting. LBJ ran against an old time Texas politician and lost by a large margin. In fact there were more votes cast then there were registered voters. How can that be?
>
>Well, the fact is that many of the votes for the Texas politician were from deceased voters. When LBJ ran again against the same person, “he made sure that he had more votes from deceased voters than his opponent”!
>
>Do not play by the rules – make them! :)

IMO there have been two classic multivolume American biographies in recent years: Robert Caro's of LBJ and Taylor Branch's of Martin Luther King. They are both extremely well written and as riveting as any movie. You forget you're reading biography in the usual eat-your-peas sense. "Means of Ascent", the second volume in Caro's series, won a bunch of awards for documenting LBJ's election to the Senate in a race that stunk even by Texas standards. Riveting and highly recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067973371X/sr=8-4/qid=1149704150/ref=pd_bbs_4/002-0374237-2148024?%5Fencoding=UTF8