"He promised that in future campaigns, 'I will always be well financed, and I’ll be well financed early.' He has kept that promise."

The following liberally snipped passages refer to a politician we all know quite well. See if you can guess who "he" is.

Both (consultants) remembered being underwhelmed by their new client ... (he) wasn’t an interesting person ... he had no “aura” to exploit, and “he ... doesn’t make a dominant physical presentation.”

But then these two old hands discovered a less obvious trait in their client that more than compensated for his dearth of God-given political appeal. (The political candidate) was prepared, even eager, to do whatever was necessary to win the election. Neither had ever had such a malleable client. “He was very easy to deal with” (and he was) the "best client” ... "he didn’t argue ... we were absolutely starting from scratch. We could build something [that is, a candidate] just the way we wanted, with no pushback.”

Why was (this politician) so eager to run and win an election?

The truth is that very few of us expect to be at the center of world-changing events when we first file for office, and personal ambition usually has a lot more to do with it than most of us are willing to admit. That was certainly true for me, and I never saw the point in pretending otherwise.

(The politician's) career spans the era in which money has become the dominant force in our elections, and this suits him fine. Money is the most important ingredient in winning elections, (he) decided after that first victory ... "everything else is in second place,” he said in a post-election interview. He promised that in future campaigns, “I will always be well financed, and I’ll be well financed early.” He has kept that promise.

(The candidate) did not formulate his own message to try to win over the voters—again, he left that to his consultants. The message they created was ingenious, entertaining, and factually misleading, and had nothing to do with public policy or political philosophy. Just as soon as it was clear that he had won, he began raising money for his reelection campaign ... he quickly built a substantial bank account, and never stopped looking for more.

Wrong!

It's Mitch McConnell, not Jeff Gahan, though only because the latter hasn't written an autobiography or been the topic of a book ... yet. But when he writes his own book, we can be sure that Bob Caesar will act as publisher.

The Closed Mind of Mitch, by Robert G. Kaiser (The New York Review of Books)

The Long Game: A Memoir
by Mitch McConnell
Sentinel, 278 pp., $28.00

The Cynic: The Political Education of Mitch McConnell
by Alec MacGillis
Simon and Schuster, 141 pp., $14.00 (paper)