John Heilemann and Mark Halperin are writing a followup to their 2008 bestseller Game Change, and while its title will piggyback off the name of the original — Double Down: Game Change 2012 — this sequel is unlikely to be as thrilling as Terminator 2. (Paul Ryan is no Sarah Palin.) The book will be published in the fall of 2013, The New York Times's Leslie Kaufman reports, and will "break news" about the 2012 campaign.

Lots of political reporters complained all election that this campaign was too boring, too "small." We thought that was dumb — when the election wasn't about the equitable division of scarce resources, it was about theodicy, or why a benevolent God lets evil happen. (For answers on that one, ask Richard Mourdock about God's role in rape pregnancies.) What these reporters were really complaining about was that there were no Rielle Hunters, no disastrous vice-presidential interviews that delighted us four years ago and made Game Change worthy of an HBO movie. (At left, "Putin rears his head" in Palin's infamous September 2008 interview with Katie Couric.) What juicy details can we hope for from Game Change 2? Ryan's exercise techniques? 

Update: And Hollywood Reporter reports HBO has already optioned the book.

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Elspeth Reeve