What It Takes: The Way to the White House

{{Short description|1992 book by Richard Ben Cramer}}

{{Infobox book |

| name = What It Takes: The Way to the White House

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image = What It Takes The Way to the White House.jpg

| caption = First edition

| author = Richard Ben Cramer

| illustrator =

| cover_artist =

| country = United States

| language = English

| series =

| genre = Non-fiction

| subject = 1988 United States presidential election

| publisher = Random House

| pub_date = June 23, 1992

| english_pub_date =

| media_type = Print (hardcover and paperback)

| pages = 1,047

| isbn = 978-0394562605

| preceded_by =

| followed_by =

}}

What It Takes: The Way to the White House is a nonfiction book about the 1988 United States presidential election written by Richard Ben Cramer and published in 1992.Ben Smith (30 December 2010) [http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46906.html The book that defined modern campaign reporting] Politico. Retrieved 20 December 2013{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=djZWFPIatUMC|title=What It Takes: The Way to the White House|first=Richard Ben|last=Cramer|date=August 2, 2011|publisher=Open Road Media|via=Google Books|isbn=9781453219645}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-12-bk-3893-story.html|title=Election by Ordeal : WHAT IT TAKES: The Way to the White House By Richard Ben Cramer, (Random House: $28; 1,047 pp.)|date=July 12, 1992|website=Los Angeles Times}} It follows the campaigns of Republicans George Herbert Walker Bush and Bob Dole and Democrats Joe Biden, Michael Dukakis, Dick Gephardt, and Gary Hart.{{Cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-679-74649-2|title=Nonfiction Book Review: What It Takes: The Way to the White House by Richard Ben Cramer, Author Vintage Books USA $25 (1072p) ISBN 978-0-679-74649-2|website=PublishersWeekly.com}}

The bulk of the book covers the early lives and political careers of the candidates, their campaigns leading up to the New Hampshire primary and the primary itself.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/01/what-i-learned-from-richard-ben-cramer/266938/|title=What I Learned From Richard Ben Cramer|first=Molly|last=Ball|date=January 8, 2013|website=The Atlantic}}{{Cite journal|jstor = 27551506|title = Stumping in the Bookstores: A Literary History of the 1992 Presidential Campaign|journal = Presidential Studies Quarterly|volume = 25|issue = 4|pages = 697–710|last1 = Troy|first1 = Gil|year = 1995}} Cramer spent six years researching and writing What It Takes.{{Cite web|url=https://ew.com/article/1992/08/07/book-review-what-it-takes-way-white-house/|title=Book Review: 'What It Takes: The Way to the White House'|website=EW.com}}