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Politics in the Bulen Era By Gordon K. Durnil - A Synopsis - With a forward by George Bush, the book is approximately 250 pages. It leads off with a five-page treatise defining contemporary American politics. Then comes a more than 100 page history of the legendary Keith Bulen's leadership (specifically from 1960 through 1974), including The Action Committee, taking over the county organization, the launch of Lugar, Campaign Communicators, UNIGOV, Roudebush, Nixon, and much more - even old photos. The author follows by making observations about Keith's post-l974 national and international leadership in the Reagan years. Next comes a series of essays about Keith from Jack Colwell, Lyn Nofziger, Earl Butz, and Orvas Beers. The essays are broken by a discussion of how nominations were won then and now, followed by essays from Bob Orr and John Mutz detailing how Keith ensured their nominations and promoted their political careers. Essays from Joan McNagny, P. E. MacAllister, Beurt SerVaas, Jim Neal, Robert D. Novak, Muriel Coleman, and Nat Hill IV discuss personal and political remembrances. Next come several essays about Keith's international successes from Don Totten, Glenn Olds, Robert S. K. Welch, and David LaRoche, and then a view from some younger successful politicians, including Judge Cale Bradford and Prosecutor Scott Newman. We hear from old Bulen friends John Burkhart, Anne Calvert Schuster, Gerry LaFollette, and George Geib. Completing this section are essays from the Washington front by Dan Burton, Andy Jacobs, Bill Hudnut, and Dick Lugar. A section about the 1998 Bulen Symposium brings words from David Broder, Sheila Suess Kennedy, and Larry Landis. The author then takes a number of pages to deal with a fictional character patterned after Keith. Approximately 25 pages follow with a full scale "Bulenesque" campaign plan for use by anyone seeking to be successful in winning public office. As Keith would do, the plan crosses all "t's and dots all "i's" - leaving little to chance, and placing heavy reliance on volunteer activity. The moving eulogy by Mitch Daniels tops off the book (along with information about the symposium and an index that resembles a four decade "Who's Who" of Hoosier politics).
Other books by Gordon Durnil: IS AMERICA BEYOND REFORM? Sligo Press, 1997, THE MAKING OF A CONSERVATIVE ENVIRONMENTALIST, Indiana University Press, 1995. |
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