Table of Contents
Part 1
Chapter 1 Looking Up from the Gurney 3
Chapter 2 Center Stage 13
Chapter 3 Max, Barack, Hillary, Billy, and the Gathering Consensus 43
Chapter 4 "This Is What I Thought the Senate Would Be Like" 54
Chapter 5 A New President Commits, and His Camp Divides 60
Chapter 6 Every Lobbyist's Favorite Date 73
Chapter 7 Punting to Capitol Hill 82
Chapter 8 Deal Time 95
Chapter 9 Behind Closed Doors: White House Turf Wars, Industry Deals, and Senate Wrangling 111
Chapter 10 The Tea Party Summer, "I'm Feeling Lucky," and "You Lie" 147
Chapter 11 Snow Jobs, Poison Pills, and Botox 163
Chapter 12 New Trouble, Then Mount Everest 180
Part 2
Chapter 13 In Washington "Everything Is Slipping" but Not in Kentucky 199
Chapter 14 An Office Becomes a Center-and It Matters 210
Chapter 15 Meantime, Outside the Beltway… 220
Chapter 16 Waiting for Obamacare 240
Chapter 17 A Guy in Jeans. Red Lights, and a "Train Wreck" 270
Chapter 18 Two Months to Go 288
Chapter 19 Thirty Days to Go 307
Part 3
Chapter 20 The Crash 325
Chapter 21 Meltdown in D.C., Dancing on Eight Toes in Kentucky, and Frustration in Ohio 343
Chapter 22 The Rescue 355
Chapter 23 The Finish Line 385
Part 4
Chapter 24 Stuck in the Jalopy 409
Acknowledgments 457
Appendix: Q&A with President Obama 46!
Methodology and Source Notes 471
Index 491