In 1996, in the middle of US election fever, a novel came from nowhere to take the publishing and political worlds by storm. Primary Colors went straight to Number 1 in the UK and went on to sell over one million hardbacks and two million paperbacks in its English language editions alone. Now in 2000, as US election fever builds once more, 'Anonymous', aka Joe Klein is back and set to repeat his success with a second brilliant novel.. In The Running Mate, Klein once again takes readers on a wickedly observant and compulsively entertaining journey behind the scenes of contemporary politics. Jack Stanton, now President Stanton, returns but this time the novel is about Senator Charlie Martin, a Vietnam War hero and hot political property. Facing an election year in this era of spin, marketing and vicious personal assaults, Martin is forced to confront the two biggest challenges of his life- a charismatic political opponent who has no scruples, and a dazzling, difficult woman who loves him, but is appalled by his life's work.Klein describes the novel as being about the difficulties of being a politician and a human being at the same time.