Political scientists need stories to help them make sense of the world they seek to explain; The Presidential Odyssey of John Glenn should be read as one such story. It is a useful narrative–in depth, over time, and close-up–of a politician at work, pursuing his ambition, interpreting his world, making decisions, and influencing the political life of the country.
Research for this book took place over six years, covering John Glenn’s ongoing senatorial career and his presidential campaign. The study begins outside the Senate, moves inside the institution, goes into the country, and returns, finally, to the Senate. That sequence gives the study overall its perspective–as the story of a campaign embedded in a career.
The book examines a number of relatively unexplored questions concerning presidential nomination campaigns. For example, it pays more attention to a losing nomination campaign than political scientists (or journalists) normally do. Assuming that the seeds of losing nomination campaigns are sown well before the first delegate section votes are cast, the books also gives more attention than usual to the long, preliminary campaign-without-voters.
