A Perfect Candidate

The filmmakers follow Oliver North's unsuccessful 1994 bid for a Virginia Senate seat, focusing on North's campaign strategist, Mark Goodin, and a Washington Post reporter. Mudslinging ensues.

The election was 1994, the film was made in 1996, and I watched it in 2013. As I could not vote until 1999 and am not from Virginia, this story is a little bit foreign to me. Of course I know who Oliver North is. Even those who do not know what Iran-Contra was have at least heard of it. The scandal has haunted and will continue to haunt North, and was a good part of why he did not make it to the Senate (though he did better than you might think).

The film works as a look back at politics and campaigns in the 1990s, and how they have changed. Even more interesting is how since this setback, North went on to reinvent himself (again) as a news commentator.