In 1972, Robert Redford starred in a popular movie, The Candidate. It was the story of an improbable candidate for the U.S. Senate overcoming seemingly impossible odds to win the election. The movie’s message implied that campaigns had become mechanical and orchestrated by professional consultants and "handlers." There were few candidates then who ran and won driven by an idealistic passion to serve…with integrity.

Bob McKnight, in this his first book, does not pretend to be pure. In fact, you will probably enjoy some of his candid admissions of mistakes and shortcomings. But you will also get the sense that McKnight converted his intensively competitive determination from athletics into success among the rough and tumble of hardball politics.

Senator McKnight was fortunate to serve in the Florida legislature during what a number of political observers describe as the "Golden Years" of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Students of Florida history will enjoy the insights into actual interactions, some dating back over 25 years, including a chilling recap of a tense Senatorial debate which centered on a matter personal to the McKnights—even though it involved a state legislative race, it drew national attention to the outcome.
A substantive political issue is addressed in The Golden Years—that is the question of whether a combination of single-member districts and term limits may have contributed to the apparent dearth of legislators who were typical of those who served during the Golden Years. Senator McKnight was and is today a Democrat, but you may be surprised to read that his secret mentor was one of the most prominent Republicans of that era. Finally, McKnight includes twenty practical recom-mendations and suggestions for campaign and public service success for newcomers in the last chapter of the book.John Phelps, the distinguished former Clerk of the Florida House of Representatives, who wrote the foreword for this book, knows McKnight well, having served as staff director for a subcommittee McKnight chaired. Phelps en-courages former legislators like McKnight to capture the history of Florida lawmaking, before the baby boomers and their connection with political history are gone. With all of its impact, technology cannot replace the personal political interactions and experiences told in The Golden Years… The Florida Legislature, ‘70s and ‘80s.