Blue smoke and mirrors (1981)

Reagan against Carter, 1980 The standard account of Ronald Reagan's win, from two veteran campaign reporters. Germond and Witcover follow it turning point by turning point, from the summer of 1979 through the bitter Carter and Ted Kennedy primary fight to the general election, and show how Carter's hopes of making the race a referendum on Reagan fell short. It is plainer than the books around it, and one reviewer at the time felt it broke little new ground, but it is the place to go for 1980 if you want the strategy rather than the mythology. The same pair went on to cover the 1984 and 1988 races in later books.