The wicked wine of democracy : a memoir of a political junkie, 1948-1995 / Joseph S. Miller.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1 A Political Junkie 3 -- 2 Something Special-Dick Neuberger 13 -- 3 Maggie and the Tiger 33 -- 4 Frosty 48 -- 5 Prox 60 -- 6 Winning Big 73 -- 7 Revenge in Kentucky 88 -- 8 Hawaiian Odysseys 97 -- 9 A State That Time Forgot 107 -- 10 Outside on the Inside 121 -- 11 The Campaign and Aftermath 141 -- 12 A Lobbyist Is a Lobbyist Is a Lobbyist 156 -- 13 No Vestal Virgin in the Whorehouse 167 -- 14 The Spotted Owl and Other Varmints 181 -- 15 Mike's "Fish Bowl" 194 -- 16 Pirates of Pork 200 -- 17 Strike! Strike! Strike! 215 -- 18 Battle of the "Black Hats" 225 -- 19 The Wicked Wine of the Democratic Process 236 -- 20 Reflections 246 -- A Word about Sources 251.

"The Wicked Wine of Democracy is a frank account by a political operative and practicing lobbyist who in the early 1950s went from being a journalist in Seattle to working on the campaigns of such important political figures as Warren G. Magnuson, Henry "Scoop" Jackson, Frank Church, William Proxmire, and, finally, John F. Kennedy. He was so successful in managing the media for campaigns across the country that in 1957 the Washington Post labeled him "the Democrat's answer to Madison Avenue." After Kennedy's victory, Joseph Miller opened a lobbying office on Capitol Hill and took on clients as diverse as the United Steelworkers of America (USA), the Western Forest Industries Association (WFIA), and the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association (MEBA). In this always revealing and often humorous memoir, Miller reports on the highlights and backroom conversations from political campaigns, labor negotiations, and lobbying deals to give an honest picture of how politics worked over his forty-year career in the nation's capitol."--Jacket.