A 1995 political satire by Jeff Greenfield. When President elect MacArthur Foyle dies in a freak accident days after being elected, the nation recoils in horror at the thought of his running mate, Teddy Block (a bumbling placeholder), becoming the president. Suddenly, the national spotlight is thrust upon the electors who will confirm in the president, as the Republicans debate about whether or not they should swear in Teddy Block as the new president.
Contains examples of:
- Almighty Janitor: After generations of just confirming the president elect, the electors are suddenly thrust into this, having the power to keep Teddy Block out of the White House or usher him in, given how they aren't legally required to give Block their seal of approval.
- The Creon: Republican Majority whip Connor Doyle is arguably the most competent politician in the novel, but he has no plans for being president himself and works hard to support the party and whoever its canidate is. He ends up the president anyway when Block gets him made speaker of the house before he and Phelps resign, due to the current speaker of the house being a Democrat. Doyle is shaken by this, but accepts the job, ending the novel on a hopeful note.
- Hidden Depths: After finally being confirmed, Block is upset by all of the political chicanery it took and he and Phelps both decide to resign once they have a more capable replacement waiting in the presidential succession chain, a plan which, to the astonishment of everyone, Block came up with himself.
- Hide Your Lesbians: One of the potential candidates for Teddy Block's vice-president is rejected due to concerns about what the media will make of her "roommate".
- Intrepid Reporter: A few enterprising journalists appear in supporting roles, including the one who first finds out that Foyle died of his injuries (who is then promoted to a big story covering the drug trade which ends up getting him killed).
- Kindly Vet: Doc Comfort is a competent veterinarian with a kindly demeanor, but has enough of an ego that, when he's going to be on television, he doesn't wear his glasses, causing him to make a mistake when injecting MacArthur Foyle's horse with something to make it calm, causing it to go wild and fatally buck off Foyle.
- Malcolm Xerox: Zigzagged with Reverend W. Dixon Mason, who holds a lot of control over the black congressmen and electors, considers himself a kingmaker, and uses his influence to both increase the number of black men with authority in the government, and line his own pockets.
- My Greatest Second Chance: The Democratic campaign manager, lamenting over his failure, seizes upon the opportunity to get his candidate elected again through the electors with a little prompting from Jack Petticone. He fails and is last seen beating it out of town to avoid both reporters and his angry political associates.
- Suit with Vested Interests:
- A local Republican Party chairman who MacArthur Foyle tasks with finding him a completely tame horse to ride in a parade instead supplies one of his own horses (planning to capitalize on the publicity to sell it expensive) and his own vet, who ends up making a fatal mistake.
- Lobbyist Jack Petticone, who is determined to have whoever the new President is owing him a favor.
- Unfit for Greatness: Nearly everyone in the story feels that Teddy Block doesn't deserve to be president regardless of the circumstances.
- Upper-Class Twit: Block and Phelps have a lot more money than sense and it shows, causing Connor Doyle to lament that their media appearances are killing the Republican parties support among rednecks and blue-collar workers.
- Vice President Who?: Teddy Block was chosen for the ticket for his pretty face and described as "a step or two slow out of the cognitive gate." When Foyle dies, he seems poised to become President and picks one of his even dopier buddies to be his Vice-President.
