Need Fiction Recommendations

[Enduro]

With election day in the U.S. drawing near, I find myself at a loss for fiction actually about elections and policy. There are a couple later Tom Clancy books that are about that, and Richard North Patterson has a few that match what I'm talking about, but a lot of political thrillers are about scandals and secrets. I just want a good story about a president going against an opposite party controlled congress to get something done, or an underdog independent candidate defying the odds to make it to the description? I don't mind reading about the personal lives of evil politicians, or a staffer learning the truth about the senator they look up to, but I would like something more akin to The West Wing rather than House of Cards

Any book you've read that matches that discription?

[vitoNova]

I read lots of Don DeLillo in college. Very popular in academia.  Specifically, White Noise--which I think is actually a flick now starring Adam Driver --and Mao II.

The best way I can describe his work is "political fever dreams".

He has an obsession with crowds.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The Mystic Masseur

[Independents for Nihilism]

I need to read more, but the movie The Candidate starring Robert Redford would probably scratch your itch if you haven't already seen it. It was written by a speechwriter for Gene McCarthy and won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay that year. 

[Benjamin Frank]

1.Primary Colors by Anonymous. Not exactly fiction since it was based on Bill Clinton's 1992 Presidential campaign, and not exactly anonymous since everybody figured out who wrote it pretty quickly.  (Newsweek columnist Joe Klein who was the chief proponent at that time of the wonders of bipartisnship - "all the problems in the U.S could be solved if Congress was locked up and not allowed to leave until they had arrived at solutions, blah, blah...)

2.Advise and Consent from 1959. The obvious classic. Made into a movie in 1962 that is regarded as good but not great.

3.For movies, in addition to The Candidate, I recommend Tim Robbins' 'Bob Roberts.'  It's not for nothing that Tim Robbins was considered the best actor in the world and one of the most interesting celebrities during the late 1980s to mid 1990s. Bob Roberts is both an early 1990s response to The Candidate and an homage to Bob Dylan.

I wouldn't say any of these books are similar to the West Wing. Advise and Consent is at least partly about policy and governance though.

[Benjamin Frank]

Some books and tv shows.

Books:
British
Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. Fairly obvious suggestions. More about how to prevent policy though. Started as a tv show and then was transferred to book format.

A Very British Coup. 1980s novel turned into a British mini series about a fast rising steelworker turned union leader turned politician turned Labour Party Prime Minister, Harry Perkins. Perkins is not classically educated but is so savvy he frightens the right wing British deep state of weapons manufacturers, other business people, senior civil servants, senior BBC executives and the U.S Deep State. The mini series is fast paced and smart. It assumes the viewers can figure out what's going on.

British
T.V Shows
Party Animals. It only lasted one season (6 episodes) but it was probably the closest thing to a British version of The West Wing. It was about a newly appointed Labour cabinet minister in a new Labour government and especially about her assistants. The opening episode starts off with a crisis as one of her assistants left confidential documents in the Parliamentary washroom, but several of the episodes deal with policy making (What about the costings!)

Edit: It was 8 episodes, and actors Andrea Riseborough and, I didn't know this, the character who lost the confidential documents - in a pub washroom, not in the Parliament, Danny Foster was played by Matt Smith, who bounced back immediately to play Dr. Who.

This is the IMDB write up for Episode 1: Under pressure Labour Minister Jo Porter takes a verbal beating in the Commons from Tory counterpart James Northcote as she announces a new policy on youth crime. How has he anticipated Jo's statement with such killer ripostes? And where has he got all those figures (costings)? The answer can be found back in Jo's parliamentary office, where her loyal researcher Danny Foster watches the debacle unfold in total despair. He left the report in a pub toilet. Meanwhile, Tory duo Ashika Chandiramani and Matt Baker cannot hide their glee at Jo's humiliation - Matt stole the report from...

Also, if I recall correctly, the 'youth crime policy' was paying young people who had previously gotten into trouble an allowance if they didn't get back into trouble. It makes sense in that many of the youth who get into trouble are in poverty, but it isn't hard to see the spin against this.

American
T.V shows
In addition to those mentioned and Veep, there was Spin City with Michael J Fox. The show, like many shows, became more about the characters and workplace relations even when Fox was still on it, but the first season has some decent political situations. I recommend the episode with Marley Matlin.

The show became more interesting to me when I went to a screening for a couple pilot episodes (I don't think random people are invited to physical locations to see pilots anymore.) This wasn't a T.V show focus group either, as we were just asked to write our opinions on paper, and not participate in a group discussion.

One of the two shows was what became Spin City. The interesting thing is I attended this around 2004 or so and Spin City aired from 1996-2002. I assume they were asking people about different angles this show could go in. It featured a female character (I forget her name) as either the mayor of New York, the chief of staff to the mayor or a senior advisor (I forget which.) While Spin City focused on the deputy mayor who had a girlfriend, in this show, the leading female character was a single mother with a smart older teenage daughter, who was quick to point out her mother's hypocrisy.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Some books and tv shows.

Books:
British
Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. Fairly obvious suggestions. More about how to prevent policy though. Started as a tv show and then was transferred to book format.

A Very British Coup. 1980s novel turned into a British mini series about a fast rising steelworker turned union leader turned politician turned Labour Party Prime Minister, Harry Perkins. Perkins is not classically educated but is so savvy he frightens the right wing British deep state of weapons manufacturers, other business people, senior civil servants, senior BBC executives and the U.S Deep State. The mini series is fast paced and smart. It assumes the viewers can figure out what's going on.

British
T.V Shows
Party Animals. It only lasted one season (6 episodes) but it was probably the closest thing to a British version of The West Wing. It was about a newly appointed Labour cabinet minister in a new Labour government and especially about her assistants. The opening episode starts off with a crisis as one of her assistants left confidential documents in the Parliamentary washroom, but several of the episodes deal with policy making (Tell us about the costings!)

American
T.V shows
In addition to those mentioned and Veep and House of Cards, there was Spin City with Michael J Fox. The show, like many shows, became more about the characters and workplace relations even when Fox was still on it, but the first season has some decent political situations. I recommend the episode with Marley Matlin.

The show became more interesting to me when I went to a screening for a couple pilot episodes (I don't think random people are invited to physical locations to see pilots anymore.) This wasn't a T.V show focus group either, as we were just asked to write our opinions on paper, and not participate in a group discussion.

One of the two shows was what became Spin City. The interesting thing is I attended this around 2004 or so and Spin City aired from 1996-2002. I assume they were asking people about different angles this show could go in. It featured a female character (I forget her name) as either the mayor of New York, the chief of staff to the mayor or a senior advisor (I forget which.) While Spin City focused on the mayors' Chief of Staff who had a girlfriend, in this show, the leading female character was a single mother with a smart older teenage daughter, who was quick to point out her mother's hypocrisy.

I'm a big fan of Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. I've seen most of the episodes of both shows, iirc.
The books must be just as good.

[Benjamin Frank]

Some books and tv shows.

Books:
British
Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. Fairly obvious suggestions. More about how to prevent policy though. Started as a tv show and then was transferred to book format.

A Very British Coup. 1980s novel turned into a British mini series about a fast rising steelworker turned union leader turned politician turned Labour Party Prime Minister, Harry Perkins. Perkins is not classically educated but is so savvy he frightens the right wing British deep state of weapons manufacturers, other business people, senior civil servants, senior BBC executives and the U.S Deep State. The mini series is fast paced and smart. It assumes the viewers can figure out what's going on.

British
T.V Shows
Party Animals. It only lasted one season (6 episodes) but it was probably the closest thing to a British version of The West Wing. It was about a newly appointed Labour cabinet minister in a new Labour government and especially about her assistants. The opening episode starts off with a crisis as one of her assistants left confidential documents in the Parliamentary washroom, but several of the episodes deal with policy making (Tell us about the costings!)

American
T.V shows
In addition to those mentioned and Veep and House of Cards, there was Spin City with Michael J Fox. The show, like many shows, became more about the characters and workplace relations even when Fox was still on it, but the first season has some decent political situations. I recommend the episode with Marley Matlin.

The show became more interesting to me when I went to a screening for a couple pilot episodes (I don't think random people are invited to physical locations to see pilots anymore.) This wasn't a T.V show focus group either, as we were just asked to write our opinions on paper, and not participate in a group discussion.

One of the two shows was what became Spin City. The interesting thing is I attended this around 2004 or so and Spin City aired from 1996-2002. I assume they were asking people about different angles this show could go in. It featured a female character (I forget her name) as either the mayor of New York, the chief of staff to the mayor or a senior advisor (I forget which.) While Spin City focused on the mayors' Chief of Staff who had a girlfriend, in this show, the leading female character was a single mother with a smart older teenage daughter, who was quick to point out her mother's hypocrisy.

I'm a big fan of Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. I've seen most of the episodes of both shows, iirc.
The books must be just as good.

The books are mostly just the t.v shows in print form, though with explanation for the characters actions - which are shown with body language in the t.v show. The main difference is that the t.v show makes the episodes seem to cover a short period of time, whereas in the book, rather than the characters speaking, most of the dialogue is in the form of letters or memos to each other with often days in between replies, and each chapter (episode) taking at least one month.

There is also a companion book that explains what nearly all the episodes and scenarios were based on. There is very little in the show that wasn't based on some real political event.  The two I most remember are the case where Hacker announces, I think, tax cuts in a television announcement. I believe this was mentioned in the Yes, Minister books and not in the companion book that this was based on a Prime Minister who was being blocked by the Treasury, and announced tax cuts in a televised Prime Minister Speech, thereby 'putting it in the program' and further announcing that the Treasury not only agreed with the tax cuts, but had staked their reputation on it.

The other I recall, which surprised me, was how little Prime Minister Thatcher actually cut government spending, but instead 'privatized' services that, although they were still paid for by the government, because they were now 'private' were no longer included in the budget.

[Benjamin Frank]

Another British political book is by former M.P Jeffrey Archer (not as bad as Jeffrey Dahmer, but Archer also went to jail!) who wrote a political book called 'First Among Equals' if not other political books. I remember my mother liked his books.

[Benjamin Frank]

Again, this isn't the original question asked (sorry) but if anybody wondered, there is one Canadian political t.v show I'm aware of that I've read about recently (I'd never heard of it before): Quentin Durgens, M.P

From wiki
Set in Ottawa, Ontario and the fictional community of Moose Falls,[a] the series starred Pinsent as Quentin Durgens, an idealistic young lawyer who wins election as a Member of Parliament, succeeding his father in a by-election after his father's death in office.[3] Durgens was a backbench member of the governing party in the House of Commons,[4] but had a maverick streak and aspired to do the right thing even if it wasn't politically expedient.[4] Some of the storylines within the series were fictionalized depictions of real-life events in Canadian politics,[1] and the series incorporated some documentary filmmaking techniques inspired by the National Film Board

The series was frequently compared in the Canadian press to Slattery's People, an American series about a state legislator which aired on CBS in the 1964–65 season.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_Durgens,_M.P.

[Enduro]

Some interesting suggestions; I will have to try some of these out.