A seasoned political writer who has covered every presidential election since Eisenhower, Jules Witcover has seen it all: from powerful party chieftains to political analysts, from the trenches of primary elections to the high-tech weapons of mass communication. In No Way to Pick a President , he blasts the current process by which America chooses its president, denouncing the road to the White House as divisive, corrupt and noisy, costly for the candidate and the public. As the United States marks its first presidential election of the new century, Witcover shows us how professional mercenaries - with little party loyalty and diminished political principles, driven by an insatiable need for money - are poisoning public life. At the same time, politicians themselves have condoned and even encouraged these developments, responding to the demands of a media driven age in which the press corps pursues its own quest for celebrity and financial reward. No Way to Pick a president offers a wealth of presidential history. Witcover concludes with prescriptions to improve presidential politics and revive public confidence.