Summary: Part A:In early 2009 a bright young presidential candidate named Barrack Obama took office with a message of hope and change and made history. Several years later he found himself embattled in a bitter divisive struggle for reelection as the Democratic candidate. His Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, faced controversies of his own while expertly exposing and exploiting weaknesses in the Democratic presidential campaign. Author and Journalist Dan Balz, uses sources from inside each campaign as well as his own observations of the race for the White House in 2012 to dissect how new strategies, laws, and outside influences such as Super PACs may possibly forever change the process of presidential elections.Part B:An emotional sports story of underdogs facing hardship and overcoming unfair odds to which continues to personify the American spirit and determination. They were eight teenagers from the University of Washington assembled and guided to a gold medal in rowing by an enigmatic coach in the 1936 Berlin Olympics despite poverty, sickness and injury. Daniel James Brown tells the emotional story of how these boys faith in each other helped them pull together to defeat elite opponents and capture the attention of an American audience caught in the midst of the Great Depression. His book, “Boys in the Boat,” tells how these young men forever changed the sport of rowing and gave hope to a nation.
