Election 2012: The Lives of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney

*Comprehensively weaves the lives and careers of both candidates into one entertaining and educational narrative.*Includes both candidates' 2012 platforms*Includes pictures of the candidates and important people, places, and events in their lives.*Includes an Online Bibliography for further reading.*Includes a Table of Contents.In November 2012, Americans will go to the polls to make yet another historic decision by either choosing to reelect the nation's first African-American president or electing the first Mormon president. On November 4, 2008, 47 year old Barack Obama walked onto the stage in Grant Park to deliver an Election Night speech less than an hour after he had been officially declared President-Elect of the United States. As he came out to an audience numbering in the hundreds of thousands, with millions more watching on television, the first African-American elected president in the nations history told Americans, If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.Although it was a reference to his historic election, the quote applied equally to the very unique path Obama took in life to reach that moment. Though he was still young by presidential standards, the bi-racial native of Hawaii had already traveled a great distance physically and spiritually, learning about himself and discovering his self-identity along the way. After receiving a blue chip education that took him to Harvard Law School and helped him become a law professor and community organizer in Chicago, he began a rapid ascent through state politics to become a U.S. Senator in 2004. In 2012, Americas first African-American president, Barack Obama, will be running for reelection against one of the least conventional Republican politicians the country has ever had. From his Mormon faith to his governorship of the very blue Massachusetts, Mitt Romney has left many on the right wondering whether he possesses the traditional conservative values that they deem necessary, even as he has spent two straight Republican primary seasons burnishing his conservative credentials. On the other side, Romneys political career and ideology have led to charges by Democrats that hes a flip-flopper who will take whichever side of an issue is politically expedient at the time. no moral compass. Throw in the fact that many Americans of all political stripes view his forthright and serious demeanor as overly wooden and not personable, the very opposite of a natural politician like Bill Clinton, and people unfamiliar with Romney and his career must certainly be left wondering how hes on the verge of becoming the next President of the United States. Yet the former governor does indeed stand on the precipice of history, in the midst of an election that everyone anticipates will be a nailbiter. 2012 is just the most recent chapter in the life of The Turnaround Artist, as he was known at Bain. In many ways, Romneys life and career have been a string of surprising successes. Dubbed a stiff, wooden politician, it was Mitts outgoing personality that won over childhood sweetheart and wife of 40+ years Ann Davies. A jocular prankster in high school, seriousness was instilled in Romney during a mission in France in which he was badly injured in a car crash, with the woman sitting next to him killed in the wreck. Election 2012 looks at the lives and careers of both candidates, but it also humanizes them and looks at their relationships with their wives and families. Along with a bibliography, pictures, and both men's platforms, you will learn about Obama and Romney like you never have before, in no time at all.