Synopsis
Tired of toxic campaigns? Remember when seeking office was an often joyful enterprise? Take heart! A whole different kind of candidate--and campaign--is at hand. When a tall, handsome, wealthy, young (and single) Texas Congressman, James Raymond Robertson Wire--Jim-Ray-Bob-Wire to his many friends--runs for president out of boredom, the political process changes--for the better. Humor replaces rancor, joy trumps drudgery and traditional campaigning flies out the window. Sailing in comes a cast of characters, handlers, advisors, groupies, rabid supporters and opposing politicians, all branded with the special imprint only a Texan and his ranch hands could produce. From an Austin bird-handling cult to rallies revved up by a fleet of purple garbage trucks to the support of the California Friends of Vegetables to an arcane Communist conspiracy to destroy the Long Island lobster beds, Down To The Wire has it all. Swell-headed minor pols to swell-bodied supermodels, New Hampshire snowstorms and avalanches, Country & Western superstars in concert and a mysterious former supporter now stalking the increasingly popular candidate who jogs every day, accompanied by thousands of fans in 10K races wearing t-shirts reading: 'I'm running for president with Jim Ray Bob Wire.' Can the charismatic Congressman make it past the finish line at the Democratic Party nominating convention? Will better-known Senators stop him inn his tracks? Or is the nomination within his grasp? Return with us now to those thrilling days of 1988 when everything came down to the wire!
About the Author
As a teenager, Poss Pragoff accompanied his father, a Republican district chairman in New Castle County, Delaware, going door-to-door to welcome and register as voters the new homeowners rapidly populating the expanding post-Word War II suburbs. As a student at Colgate University, he cheered as the overheated leader of the College Young Republicans introduced Nelson Rockefeller as "The Governor of the United States." In 1968, Poss plunged into his first presidential race as the Michigan co-ordinator for the Paulsen for President campaign, and stood proudly in the wings as the candidate laconically conceded the primary, "edged by Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy." Poss still treasures that evening's stirring cri de coeur and the pride with which Pat Paulsen cited his rising momentum, from 2 votes in New Hampshire to 4 votes in Massachusetts and an astounding 50% improvement to 6 votes in the hotly-contested Michigan primary. The craggy and cagy candidate concluded: "I sense a groundswell." On election night in 2008, not one to idle on the sidelines, Poss manned the piano at an Obama bundler's home, pounding out his newly-minted verses--29 in all--to the Democrats' longtime rallying anthem. One verse should suffice: 'At each polling place, held firm; Said there'd be no four-year term, for Arizona's cranky pachyderm ... Happy Days Are Here Again!' Winner of the Lasher Prize and The Mellish Award, Poss has been honored for his lyrics to the Country & Western classic, 'Severely Delinquent'; with a CLIO award for CBS TV commercials; and for his staggering mastery of rhyming couplets presented at 60-Second Poetry Slams. Poised to publish his third novel in early 2017, a thriller set in the Caribbean during the '60s aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, Poss is hard at work on his fourth novel, a sequel to Down To The Wire primed with more political hi-jinks, improbable characters and hilarity on the campaign trail. When not at the keyboard, Poss can be found conducting tasting tours to family-owned wineries in Northern Sonoma County, California, where zesty Zinfandels rule! For more, log on to: www.posspragoff.com
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