Pandemonium breaks out on the convention floor when the governor of California is robbed of the Democratic presidential nomination after a bitter primary campaign goes all the way to the convention. Defeated and downcast, he considers an independent White House bid. But backroom wheeling and dealing, a high-profile assassination, a constitutional showdown, and a personal crisis could derail his campaign in Dark Horse, political insider Ralph Reeds' first novel.

After the Democratic presidential nomination is stolen by Senate Majority Leader in a credentials fight at the convention, the moderate California governor shocks the political establishment by launching an independent bid for the presidency. The FBI and the Justice Department open a criminal investigation into the credentials dispute, and a grand jury indicts the campaign chairman of the Senate Majority Leader for perjury and obstruction of justice. The Republican candidate, the incumbent vice-president, is coasting to victory in the topsy-turvy three-way presidential race. But nothing in this campaign is as it seems.

The parallels to the 2008 election are eerie. The first African-American presidential nominee in U.S. history, the first woman on a national ticket since 1984, a controversial African-American pastor, a moderate GOP presidential candidate hamstrung by a conservative radio talk show host, all battle for the ultimate price in U.S. politics as Iran inches closer to a nuclear weapon. The action takes place in exotic settings from the West Wing and the U.S. Capitol to a secluded resort in Mexico, a posh mansion in Bermuda, a castle in the English countryside, a safehouse in Pakistan, and a Hollywood film studio.

Ralph Reed is a veteran of seven presidential campaigns with a quarter century of experience as a political strategist, and Dark Horse sizzles with authenticity and reads truer than non-fiction. Offering a looking-glass into presidential politics on the eve of the 2008 election, Dark Horse contains characters, plot twists, and rare insight that will no doubt be relevant to the real-life presidential campaign now underway.