For me, the only good part of electing a president in this country is that, months later, we get at least one good book that tells us, with some authority, what really happened in the election. Often, this comes from Roger Simon, whose Road Show (1988) and Show Time (1996) showed incredible access and insight into the process. Both are out-o'-print but easy to find at low prices via all the on-line search services…and you can also do what I'm doing, which is to wait for Simon's book on the Gore/Bush debacle, Divided We Stand, which is due out in mid-May. In the meantime, I very much enjoyed Down and Dirty: The Plot to Steal the Presidency by Jake Tapper, which details the machinations of both sides to avoid an honest count and to maneuver things to favor their boy. The Gore forces come off a little less scummy than the Bush leaguers but, if Tapper is to be believed — and he sure sounds like he should be — not one player in the drama acted in other than naked self-interest. To hear Tapper tell it, the Bush victory had nothing to do with an honest count and everything to do with (a) cleverer legal wrangling and (b) the luck of the draw, in terms of key decisions going to judges and officials who were predisposed to favor him. At no point does that outmoded concept — The Will of the People — appear to have had much to do with it. Anyone surprised?