Post vet discusses '08 election book

A year into Obama's presidency, Washington Post correspondant and author Dan Balz recalls a turning point in the historic election that got him there.

In 2007, Obama had almost no knowledge of healthcare policy, Balz said, describing the scene of a conference in Las Vegas about reforming the country's medical system. John Edwards and Hillary Clinton both spoke at the conference, and Balz described their successful performances. Clinton, for example, learned from her mistakes made on a task force as first lady.

"She was off the charts," Balz said of her speech at the healthcare conference. Obama realized he needed to step up his healthcare game as a result of that conference, he said.

This was one of the events featured in Balz's book The Battle For America 2008: The Story of an Extraordinary Election, which he co-wrote with Pullitzer Prize winner Haynes Johnson. Balz visited the Bethesda and Gaithersburg libraries last week to talk about the book, which features highlights from the campaign trail and interviews with the candidates.

The election, Balz said, was the "likes of which we've never seen before."

Talking to a packed conference room in Gaithersburg on Thursday, Balz described Barack Obama as an "unlikely person" to run for president, based on his relative youth and inexperience in national politics. The event was arranged by Gaithersburg's Friends of the Library.

By the fall of 2007, Obama was able to challenge Clinton as a candidate, Balz said. Clinton had become the decisive frontrunner by that part of the campaign, but Obama gained some ground.

Clinton's success fizzled during the Philadelphia debate when she faltered on a question about then- New York governor Eliot Spitzer's campaign donations.

"Barack Obama's campaign performed when it counted most. Hillary Clinton's campaign performed when it counted least," Balz said.

He said the other great story of the election was John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate.

"This was not a campaign that lie in John McCain's hands, the destiny was somewhere else," he said. Balz felt that Palin was a desperation pick, but one that would create buzz.

Still, it added interest to an election Balz called "historic".

Friends of the Library raises funds for programs including book talks, including holding book sales in the library lobbies.