The former Republican National Committee chairman channels his inner Sun Tzu in this memoir-cum-campaign primer, serving up pithy lessons learned on various campaigns; dealings with then-Supreme Court nominees John Roberts, Samuel Alito and the ill-fated Harriet Miers; and conservative talking points on familiar issues like health care, immigration and national security. Unfortunately, maxims like "strategy should define tactics, not the other way around," "a picture's worth a thousand press releases," and "loyalty, loyalty, loyalty" have less to do with superior GOP campaigning tactics than they do with plain old politicking. Gillespie's work with some Republican leading lights-including Elizabeth Dole, Karl Rove and President George W. Bush-might lead readers to expect more seminal insights, if not a couple of savory back-stage tidbits. But the tales here are pedestrian, jumping from receiving lines to campaign buses to Washington power lunches, giving superficial confirmation to what readers already know, including the fact that Rove "is the hardest driving force of the Bush administration." Before he stepped down from the post in 2005, Gillespie told the president, "I will never embarrass you as your former RNC chairman." In this volume, he stays tediously true to his word.
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