| Director | Michael Ritchie |
|---|---|
| Genre | comedy drama, drama film |
| Runtime | 108 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $1.6 million |
| Box office | $2.5 million |
Marvin Lucas, a political consultant, must find a Democratic candidate to oppose three-term California Senator Crocker Jarmon, a popular Republican, in the upcoming election. With no big-name Democrat eager to enter the unwinnable race, Lucas seeks out Bill McKay, the idealistic, handsome, and charismatic son of the popular former California governor John J. McKay, who works as a public interest lawyer.
Lucas gives McKay a proposition: since Jarmon cannot lose and the race is already decided, McKay is free to campaign saying exactly what he wants. McKay accepts the chance to spread his values and hits the trail. With no serious Democratic opposition, McKay cruises to the nomination on his name alone. Lucas then has distressing news: according to the latest polling, McKay will be defeated by an overwhelming margin. Lucas says the party expected McKay to lose but not to be humiliated, so he convinces McKay to moderate his message to appeal to a broader range of voters.
McKay campaigns across the state, his message growing more generic each day. This approach lifts him in the opinion polls, but he has a new problem: because McKay's father has stayed out of the race, the media interpret his silence as an endorsement of Jarmon. McKay grudgingly meets his father and tells him the problem, and the elder McKay tells the media he is simply honoring his son's wishes to stay out of the race.
With McKay only nine points down in the polls, Jarmon proposes a debate. McKay agrees to give answers tailored by Lucas, but just as the debate ends, McKay has a pang of conscience and blurts out that the debate has not addressed real issues such as poverty and race relations. Lucas is furious, as this will hurt the campaign. Reporters try to confront McKay backstage, but arrive as his father congratulates him on the debate. Instead of reporting on McKay's outburst, the story becomes the reemergence of the former governor to help his son. The positive story and McKay's father's help on the trail further closes the polling gap.
With the election a few days away, Lucas and McKay's father set up a meet-and-greet with a labor union representative to discuss another possible endorsement. During the meeting, the union representative tells McKay that he feels they can do much good for each other if they work together. McKay ostensibly tells him that he is not interested in associating with him, but the tension is quelled with uncomfortable yet unanimous laughter. After a publicized endorsement from the union rep and with Californian workers now behind him, McKay pulls into a virtual tie with Jarmon.
McKay wins the election. In the final scene, he escapes the victory party and pulls Lucas into a room while throngs of journalists clamor outside. McKay asks Lucas, "What do we do now?" The media throng arrives to drag them out, and McKay never receives an answer.