FRANKFORT —  During high-stakes political campaigns, partisans usually suspect biased reporters of trying to paint unfair portraits of the candidates. Others complain that negative ads distort and trivialize the records and character of those running. That’s especially true of presidential campaigns.

Newsweek produces quadrennial inside looks at presidential campaigns by embedding teams of reporters in the campaigns — with varying degrees of access, depending on candidates’ level of comfort — and writing about what they saw after the election. I always look for those and after reading them, I’m always surprised at how closely the accounts resemble the public image of the candidates. John Kerry really couldn’t make a decision and stick with it for instance.

But for an even more revealing look inside the 2008 presidential campaign, “Game Change” is a must read. It’s written by John Heilemann, national political correspondent and columnist for New York magazine, and Mark Halperin, editor-at-large and senior political analyst for Time. It paints vivid pictures of Barack Obama, John McCain, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Sarah Palin and John Edwards.

I decided to read it after a statewide Republican office holder told me it is the best book on campaigns he’d ever read — and that after reading it, “I hated them all.” My reaction was a bit kinder — the book humanized Hillary Clinton in small ways, diminished her husband in others, and reveals the complexity of their relationship. It reinforces accounts of McCain’s personality, like his risk-taking and temper, but it also showed he was at times unfocused and disengaged and sometimes willing to abandon principle. Obama is dispassionate and cool but unafraid of a fight, possessing a serene confidence that often comes off as supreme arrogance.

The book paints devastating portraits of Edwards and Palin. Edwards is pictured as callous, craven and dishonest. His wife, Elizabeth, is a terror, intimidating staff and even her husband. John Edwards has an affair and fathers an illegitimate child, then arranges for an aide to take responsibility. Fully aware all will eventually be exposed, Edwards nevertheless tries to cut deals with a disgusted Obama in exchange for a place on the ticket or appointment as Attorney General. Palin becomes morose and depressed, almost catatonic, and some of McCain’s staff feared she was mentally unstable. The McCain camp’s inexplicable failure to vet Palin is painfully obvious.

You feel the sense of betrayal and frustration the Clintons feel when long-time associates endorse Obama, of Obama when his Chicago pastor makes incendiary comments about race and America and then turns vindictive. Readers share Obama’s astonishment at opponents’ poor strategic decisions and feel Michelle’s genuine reluctance to see him run. But you also sometimes see the humanity of the candidates (except Edwards).

“Game Change” at times evokes sympathy for all of them but Edwards. It exposes the mistakes and in-fighting which crippled Clinton’s and McCain’s campaigns. Like those NEWSWEEK accounts of the Bush-Kerry and Obama-McCain races, it shows the better candidates (regardless of what you think of their positions or policies) won both the primary and general elections. McCain never gave up when he appeared dead and broke in the primary. Obama had a better plan and was smarter and more disciplined than either Clinton or McCain — and he came off as more principled. Consultants sometimes wield more power than their candidates.

Others will disagree. Perhaps you’ll be like my Republican friend and find them all disgusting or find Clinton or McCain more sympathetic and your discomfort with Obama might deepen. But the book is riveting and instructive for all who follow politics.

RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.