November's Gladiators

"Terry Baxter gives us a peek under the flap of the tent we call a national political campaign–hilarious, intense, exhausting, and ultimately rewarding."
- Bill Brock, former U.S. Senator, U.S. Trade Representative, Secretary of Labor, and Chairman of the Republican National Committee.

An elite team from the White House staff travels ahead of the president to arrange campaign appearances, state visits, or international summit meetings. They carry the privilege of being the personal representatives of the president of the United States. They preside over events as mundane as a routine presidential visit, or as significant as a moment that will create history. They are White House advancemen.

November’s Gladiators is the inside story of the raucous teams that produced the celebrated Ronald Reagan presidential campaigns. It captures the grit of the democratic process and the often-hilarious highs and lows that accompany the road warriors as they invade small towns across America.

Every president since Richard Nixon has had an Office of White House Advance to manage presidential appearances. The once black art has become a necessity in the media age. When the demands of a presidential campaign swell the ranks of advancemen, the result is an unruly mix of seasoned pros and party-hearty rookies, swimming with the full tide of history.

The infusion of high enthusiasm and boundless energy often produces magnificent campaign stops. But, inevitably, the learning curve is steep, and some events spiral out of control.

In November's Gladiators, unforgettable characters wrestle with impossible deadlines, dirty tricks, and logistical nightmares, to create the greatest electoral landslide in American history.

Terry Baxter has been a television director, a race car driver, a Hollywood stunt man, and a senior business and government executive. He has served three Presidents of the United States and headed a Fortune 500 company. He and his wife Patricia divide their time between New Hampshire and Key Largo, Florida. An avid boater, he pilots his boat, Armagnac, along the Atlantic coast each spring and fall.