Halperin and Heilemann Sign Double Down 
Nov. 7, 2013--After discussing DOUBLE DOWN: Game Change 2012 [Penguin Press, Nov. 5] at a Politics & Prose event at The George Washington University, authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann signed copies of the book.  The two said the experience of writing their previous book GAME CHANGE: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime [HarperCollins, Jan. 2010], made DOUBLE DOWN somewhat easier; at the same time this book was more difficult because they did many more interviews, over five hundred compared to about three hundred for the last book.  The authors said they look for big questions during the campaign and then flesh out the details of those episodes.  Rather than documenting each step of the campaign, they focus on the most interesting elements and seek to capture "the high human drama of what it's like to run for president."  (In an interesting sidenote, Halperin noted that FaceTime, Apple's video call system, which was not around when they wrote the last book, proved invaluable as they put this book together).  DOUBLE DOWN is likely to be the most popular of the books on the 2012 campaign; additionally HBO has optioned the rights to the book.

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