The book discussed how contemporary political campaigns are increasingly sensitive to candidate-centered appeals, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of their own candidate to determine how their personalities, backgrounds, and likability and background fit into a campaign narrative, theme, and issue agenda.
"The book is, for the political junkie, an enjoyable and thorough stroll through some of the most high-profile American political campaigns of the 1990s and 2000s. ... It is an enjoyable read about campaigns as they are in the American political landscape of the early twenty-first century. Its blend of qualitative and quantitative evidence should engage students of politics to see common threads in what can appear heavily localized and chaotic campaigns." (Thomas J. Leeper, Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 80 (3), 2016)