The Final 48 Hours

Never again would Bill Clinton's horizons be this constricted. For the final two days of the campaign, Clinton's life was reduced to the bare essentials -- takeoffs, landings, speeches and the near absolute certainty (though he would never publicly admit it) that he would be the next President of the United States.

Presidential candidates had pushed themselves to the brink before, but almost always in quest of a narrow victory or fleeing from the ghosts of humiliation. Clinton was different; he did it, regardless of the buoyant polls, largely because he wanted to. Few political odysseys could rival Clinton's 48-hour, sleep-defying,...