In his first novel, Political Animal, David Mizner, A91, takes his readers behind the scenes of a primary campaign of a New York congressman running for the Senate. The book’s protagonist, Ben Bergin, is a gifted young speech writer whose life seems to be unraveling as he becomes more disillusioned with his job. Mizner, a former Washington campaign worker, lives on a Maine island where he is working on his second novel. Here he discusses the lure of politics and what keeps Ben in the game.

"Most books and movies about politics are Capra-esque fables in which people struggle against not-such-long odds to do the right thing or dystopian laments in which people never do the right thing. I had a vague sense that I wanted to write a novel that was neither. Or perhaps both. Something more realistic, in other words.

"At the risk of being obnoxious, I’d like to quote myself. Ben Bergin, the main character, is an ‘idealistic cynic who has a love-hate-hate relationship with politics.’ Ben, a press-release writer on a Senate campaign in New York, hates the lies, the cynicism, the fear that disguises itself as political wisdom. Virtually all major political campaigns are driven by a terror of losing, but Ben’s boss is especially risk-averse. I should mention here that he’s a Democrat.

"Yet for all Ben’s disillusionment, he stays on the job. Why? Because I wanted to write a book about a political campaign. Plus he likes certain aspects of the job. I wanted to make sure that I conveyed the appeal of politics in general and campaigns in particular. Most people work on campaigns for a simple reason: they’re fun. Ben likes the intensity, the competition, the bond with his co-workers, whom he likes more than he lets on. (He might be in love with one of them.) Working on a campaign is like playing in a very long tournament.

"But if politics is a game, it’s one with high stakes. The prospect of helping people appeals to Ben, whose social conscience survives his vanity and selfishness. While he gets high on his whiff of power, he’s daunted by the responsibility that comes with it. When he discovers that one of his lies is literally murderous, he decides, in his half-baked way, to face up to his responsibility. But then the plot thickens: if doing the right thing brings down the campaign, does it serve the greater good? Ben believes, or hopes, that this is a false choice. He has a hunch that the campaign can both tell the truth and win, that voters, given enough information and enough respect, will make an enlightened choice.

The book hinges on Ben’s testing this hopeful—naive?—premise."