campaigns — and it's not pretty. This is the good, the bad and the ugly of partisan politics, and Kinsella argues that all three are necessary for a healthy and democratic political dialogue.

But this isn't a cynic's book on how to manipulate the voting public. The advice from the Prince of Darkness is "stay on message, and stick with the truth." Those practitioners of the black arts who resort to lies and cheating are most often burned at the stake by the voters. And he marshals plenty of evidence and insider stories from the hottest campaigns and campaigners in Canada and the United States — among them, James Carville, Betsey Wright, Haley Barbour and Dick Morris — to prove his point.

You'll learn about push-polling, frugging, ratf**king, quick response, dirty tricks and oppo, and you'll learn how to counter them all. You'll be treated to Kinsella's Twelve Handy Tips for Surviving Encounters with Unethical, Unscrupulous, Unprincipled Political Journalists, as well as to his unique rating system on whose political reporting you can trust.

This is a must-read not only for political junkies but also for marketers and PR flaks alike: it is a handbook, not only on how to win, but how to make sure your opponent loses.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Warren Kinsella is a lawyer, a political consultant and a weekly columnist for The Ottawa Citizen. He is the author of the bestselling Web of Hate, on neo-Nazi and white supremacist hate groups in Canada and the U.S. He served as political aide to Jean Chrétien when Chrétien was Leader of the Opposition; he unsuccessfully ran for federal office in 1997 (a race in which he wishes he's kicked ass); and he played key roles in two successful Chrétien campaigns. He lives in Toronto with his wife and family.