Lee Zachariah has had some notable bookend moments in his life, the most important of which seem to be the election and re-election of Australia’s Coalition government. In 2013 he married and got himself ready for a new life and a change of location as the Abbott government swept to power. Three years later he watched, almost from the sidelines of his own life, as the newly minted Turnbull-led coalition tested its leadership credentials, dissolving both houses of parliament at the same time as Zachariah’s own marriage coalition was falling apart.

In a quest to understand this rise and fall in national and personal circumstances, Zachariah returned to Australia. His goal: to cover the election ‘old-school style’, from the road and around the country with the candidates as they worked the room, shook hands and kissed babies in an effort to romance the people of Australia.

The author ties his personal journey for understanding to that of the campaigns of the major players in all the key parties and electorates. As he delves into their motivations for wanting to lead and serve at the same time – a dichotomy in itself – Zachariah looks for answers to help him make sense of how something can change so quickly, and how the love can vanish from the electorate as easily as it did in his own relationship. This is an engaging and clever account of the 2016 federal election campaign and all the vagaries of life on the road for politicians and the press who travel with and are courted by them. Any reader interested in seeing behind the veil of an election campaign should jump in the car with Lee and share the road trip with him.

Reviewed by David Johnson