you can be too close to a subject, too enmeshed in its details to see some of its larger truths, and that is definitely true of politics. i have never thought more clearly about politics than when i knew nothing about it. in 1988, i was absolutely certain of one thing. michael due calk is wouldn't be president. didn't matter when he would become the front runner for president, i knew he would never be president. didn't matter that he eventually had an 18 point lead over the republican candidate, vice president george h.w. bush. i knew he would never be president. i could see that very clearly. and i didn't care what the professionals thought. i didn't care what the experts thought. that was the year that i lost my amateur standing and got my first paycheck in politics, even though i still knew nothing about it. i found myself drafted into senator daniel patrick moin