The story begins on July 4, 1976, when radio talk show personality C. C. Farr returns to his home town in Vermont and attends a Bicentennial Celebration. Fate joins Farr to venerable U.S. Representative Porter Samuels and powerful newspaper publisher Howard Barnard. Together they launch a grass roots campaign, ÒBorn Again American:Ó Their goal is to make Farr a household name so Farr will win SamuelsÕ seat in the House upon SamuelsÕ retirement. Farr is unaware of Barnard and SamuelsÕs real mission: to manipulate Farr and control his activities in Congress.
This tale, now resurrected from the ash heap of recent history, foretells trends that became a cynical political path at the turn of the millennium: talk radio, evangelical religion, and populist conservatism.