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Apr 27, 2022 - Politics & Policy

First look: Lis Smith dishes on love of political combat in new book

Mike Allen
The cover of "Any Given Tuesday" by Lis Smith

Cover photo: Rob Strong

Lis Smith — one of the most experienced and irreverent Democratic strategists in the land — will be out July 19 with a raw memoir that follows her from college internships to her star turns as adviser to Pete Buttigieg, Eliot Spitzer, Andrew Cuomo and Terry McAuliffe.

  • The title, "Any Given Tuesday," puts an Election Day twist on the "Any Given Sunday" truism about the NFL.

The book is animated by Smith's love for the hand-to-hand combat of politics, and she "owns the controversial choices that landed her in the tabloids," says Harper, the publisher.

  • Smith started kicking around a book at the beginning of COVID, when Buttigieg dropped out of the presidential race.
  • She then took 18 months to write about her 16 years of campaigns.

I'm told the book relishes the highs with "Mayor Pete," but doesn't hold back on the lows with Spitzer and Cuomo.

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