Claiming the dream : the victorious campaign of Douglas Wilder of Virginia /

Margaret Edds, a journalist who writes and covers political campaigns, tries to explain why the state of Virginia--with four white voters to every black voter--became the first state to elect a black governor. Her book is also an attempt--not altogether successful--to explain why Douglas Wilder was able to win as a mainstream candidate when other black candidates were failing in similar attempts (e.g., Andrew Young). If any campaign were to offer proof of the dictum that "all politics is local," this campaign would. Edds's analysis provides a blow-by-blow decription of the unfolding of the gubernatorial campaign of 1989 as well as the preceding 12 months of jockeying for position. If Edds is right, and she probably is, the two central issues transcending all others were the candidates' positions on abortion rights and race--in that order. The former issue was often spoken of while the latter was a background issue, left largely unspoken. The author believes that Wilder's election "signaled the advent of a new type of black politics in which fiery rhetoric and emotional appeals gave way to discussions of mainstream issues." Wilder, who played no part in the 1960s civil rights struggles nonetheless corralled a giant share of the black vote in Virginia. The campaign was another lesson in the limitations of public opinion polls when they are asking about voters' intentions vis-a-vis black candidates. An excellent look at politics in Virginia and at the gubernatorial campaign of 1989. Recommended for college and university libraries as well as public libraries. -W. K. Hall, Bradley University

Edds has written an excellent account of the 1989 gubernatorial campaign in Virginia that produced the nation's first elected black governor, L. Douglas Wilder. The most valuable portions of the book are those in which Edds discusses how the candidates and their advisors handled television commercials and the explosive issues of abortion and race. Readers who wish to learn more about Wilder as a person may read Donald Baker's Wilder: Hold Fast to Dreams; A Biography of L. Douglas Wilder ( LJ 2/15/90); however, since that book concludes during the early stages of Wilder's campaign against Republican Marshall Coleman, Edds's work supplements it nicely. Recommended for public and university libraries.-- Thomas H. Ferrell, Univ . of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.