Martin Plissner, former political director of CBS News, has played a central role in the network coverage of every presidential campaign since 1964. Now, drawing on his intimate knowledge of life inside the control room, he provides a lively and authoritative account of the ways television has come to dominate presidential politics in the final third of the twentieth century.

Blending personal anecdotes with mini-histories, Plissner shows how all the elements of the contest for national power in America - the primaries, the conventions, and the final counting of the ballots - are shaped by the struggle among the networks for supremacy in viewership and breaking news on ever-dwindling budgets.

As the race for the White House heads toward a new century, Plissner reveals how television news coverage will decide who gets attention and when, who is on the rise and who is down the chute, when the race begins and when it ends, and what you care about when you vote for president.