Down To The Wire (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781539735687)

As a teenager, Poss Pragoff accompanied his father, a Republican district chairman in New Castle County, Delaware, going door-to-door to welcome and register as voters the new homeowners rapidly populating the expanding post-Word War II suburbs. As a student at Colgate University, he cheered as the overheated leader of the College Young Republicans introduced Nelson Rockefeller as "The Governor of the United States." In 1968, Poss plunged into his first presidential race as the Michigan co-ordinator for the Paulsen for President campaign, and stood proudly in the wings as the candidate laconically conceded the primary, "edged by Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy." Poss still treasures that evening's stirring cri de coeur and the pride with which Pat Paulsen cited his rising momentum, from 2 votes in New Hampshire to 4 votes in Massachusetts and an astounding 50% improvement to 6 votes in the hotly-contested Michigan primary. The craggy and cagy candidate concluded: "I sense a groundswell." On election night in 2008, not one to idle on the sidelines, Poss manned the piano at an Obama bundler's home, pounding out his newly-minted verses--29 in all--to the Democrats' longtime rallying anthem. One verse should suffice: 'At each polling place, held firm; Said there'd be no four-year term, for Arizona's cranky pachyderm ... Happy Days Are Here Again!' Winner of the Lasher Prize and The Mellish Award, Poss has been honored for his lyrics to the Country & Western classic, 'Severely Delinquent'; with a CLIO award for CBS TV commercials; and for his staggering mastery of rhyming couplets presented at 60-Second Poetry Slams. Poised to publish his third novel in early 2017, a thriller set in the Caribbean during the '60s aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, Poss is hard at work on his fourth novel, a sequel to Down To The Wire primed with more political hi-jinks, improbable characters and hilarity on the campaign trail. When not at the keyboard, Poss can be found conducting tasting tours to family-owned wineries in Northern Sonoma County, California, where zesty Zinfandels rule! For more, log on to: www.posspragoff.com