Ultimately, he seems to take up the pen for reasons overshadowed by his first hero, Mailer: the joy of the ring, the thrill of the fight.

NEWYORKER: What She Said

The anticipation of the primaries, the admiration of the long campaign, the envy of the zillions being spent, the thrill of the attack ads, the excitement of the exuberant conventions, the sheer joy of the fight!

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Sometimes it chimed with a personal ethos to fight the establishment or defend free expression, often they just wanted to jump in for the thrill of it all.

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