[Jonathan Alter, author of the new book “The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies”, is joining us as a guest blogger this week in the Editor’s Blog highlighting and discussing some key findings and revelations in his new book. – jmm]

DAY FIVE

It’s always tricky predicting how historians of the future will react, but my guess is that they will be surprised by how a small group of rightwing extremists were able to wield so much power in a political system where the vast majority of the public didn’t share their views. Grover Norquist and Roger Ailes are among the Obama enemies I profile. Read More 

[Jonathan Alter, author of the new book “The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies”, is joining us as a guest blogger this week in the Editor’s Blog highlighting and discussing some key findings and revelations in his new book. – jmm]

DAY FOUR

As with my last book, I became intrigued by the character and operating style of President Obama. I spoke to a lot of people who shed light on what he’s like behind closed doors. Here’s a taste of what I found. Read More 

[Jonathan Alter, author of the new book “The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies”, is joining us as a guest blogger this week in the Editor’s Blog highlighting and discussing some key findings and revelations in his new book. – jmm]

Day Three:

A great pleasure of the book for me was getting to know the bartender who videotaped Romney making his comments about the 47 percent. I was fascinated by his motivation for his historic act. In September of 2012, TPM dug up an old TV ad from 40 years ago that had an uncanny relevance to the class-based arguments of 2012. Read More 

[Jonathan Alter, author of the new book “The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies”, is joining us as a guest blogger this week in the Editor’s Blog highlighting and discussing some key findings and revelations in his new book. – jmm]

Day Two:

One of the most important stories of the campaign was what I call “The Voter Suppression Project”–a concerted effort to tilt the election to the Republicans. Like the Tea Party, it was not dictated from Washington but Republicans in the states knew just what to do to make sure voting rules prevented Obama from winning. Read More 

[Jonathan Alter, author of the new book “The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies”, is joining us as a guest blogger this week in the Editor’s Blog highlighting and discussing some key findings and revelations in his new book. — jmm]

DAY ONE:

In researching the book, I came to think that the 2012 campaign represented a peculiar role reversal. Barack Obama ran a corporate-style campaign that exploited the latest digital technology. Mitt Romney, the self-described “numbers guy,” ran a campaign based on a vague hope that Americans wanted change. Here’s part of how the Romney campaign rejected Big Data: Read More