The Election

Michael Edwards is a handsome, wealthy TV anchorman running for president, who hopes to turn his idealistic editorial dreams into political reality in this fast-paced but cliche-ridden fantasy of third-party politics. Borrowing a tactic from Perot, Edwards builds a grassroots, volunteer-based campaign, touting an ecology-based economy based on drug-legalization and something called ""The Regenerating Biosphere."" Edwards's combination of media and political savvy allows him to make some headway in the early going, but a scandal from his past soon emerges to stall the campaign's momentum. He recovers enough steam to deadlock the election, and, while a series of roll-call votes in the electoral college produces some interesting surprises, a nearly endless series of ties pushes the concept right to its limits. At times, Field's political perspective reflects a startling lack of sophistication; neither his characters nor the subplots rise above the level of a TV movie. But the whole exceeds the sum of the parts: the sheer, cheesy gusto of this goofy debut manages, in an oddly gratifying way, to overcome its considerable literary sins. (Nov.)