The Kid Who Ran for President

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1996

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 2

Chapters 3-6

Chapters 7-10

Chapters 11-12

Chapters 13-14

Chapters 15-16

Chapters 17-18

Chapters 19-22

Chapters 23-24

Chapters 25-26

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 19-22Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 19 Summary: “The Virtual Candidate”

One day after school lets out in June, Judson and Lane go online to see what people are saying. Across social media, kids promote Moon as the best and only candidate to vote for. Judson says something negative about himself and is attacked by those who support him. The Internet is Judson’s secret weapon. His campaign covers lots of ground in cyberspace, and he doesn’t “even have to do the work” (109). By September, Judson is up to 24% in the polls, and his competitors’ ratings have dropped.

Chapter 20 Summary: “Moon, You Don’t Have Any Opinions!”

The League of Women Voters invites Judson to debate the other presidential candidates (current President White and Senator Dunn) on national television the week before the election. Judson panics, and Lane shows him a list of issues Americans argue about, along with numbers for how many people favor each item. The list overwhelms Judson, who doesn’t know how to feel about the items because both sides of the arguments make sense. He always agrees with the last perspective someone gives, and he reflects, “Maybe that’s why people like me” (114).

Chapter 21 Summary: “Time to Panic”

On the day of the debate, Judson and Lane go to Chicago, where Judson can’t believe how many people recognize him. As the debate draws closer, his stress gets worse until he’s as “nervous as a cat in a vet’s waiting room” (117). He can barely remember his positions on the issues and goes to the debate in a fog.

Chapter 22 Summary: “The Great Debate”

Standing on stage at the debate, Judson realizes he is way over his head. His only option is to throw the debate and sabotage his run. Each candidate will have 20 seconds to answer each question, and Judson will “play it for laughs and act like a jerk” (120), hoping America will forgive him for wasting its time. He gives ridiculous answers to each question, to which the audience reacts with a mixture of laughter and anger.

The final question asks each candidate to address peacekeeping in the Middle East. President White and Senator Dunn offer thought-out responses. Judson tells a story about how he helped a bunch of kids fighting over baseball cards. When the moderator says the people in the Middle East don’t collect baseball cards, Judson responds that they should because “it’s better to fight over cards than it is to fight over countries” (124). The debate ends. Judson is relieved, but Lane looks pained and doesn’t talk to Judson all the way home.

Chapters 19-22 Analysis

Chapter 19 shows the power of public opinion and how social media can inflate and destroy messages. Kids discuss Judson’s campaign and ways to increase his popularity, spreading the message across social media platforms. When Judson says something negative about his campaign, people ruthlessly tear him down for daring to have an opinion that doesn’t match their own. The 2012 edition of The Kid Who Ran for President shows this phenomenon across platforms like Facebook and Twitter, in addition to Internet chat forums. While these social media sites didn’t exist when the book was first published in 1996, their inclusion reveals that Internet behavior has not changed. The anonymity of the Internet gives people a false sense of power, making them believe they can say anything to anyone without consequence. This anonymity also lets Judson see what people really think.

The debate and its lead-up are when Judson truly realizes what he’s gotten himself into. Unable to think clearly about the debate issues and his positions on them, Judson comes to understand there is more to being president than putting on a show. Judson’s ability to see both sides of an issue represents how there often are no right or wrong answers. Both sides of every issue facing America have merit. Judson’s realization that people like him because he agrees with them demonstrates what makes him so appealing as a candidate. He always says what people want to hear because he agrees with all sides.

The debate itself brings out Judson’s joker personality. He doesn’t know what to say, so he says nonsense and hopes America will forgive him, which is not unlike other politicians. Rather than unrelated answers, other politicians respond and make promises they don’t keep, knowing America won’t forgive them but that they won’t have any option but to deal with what happens. Judson’s response to the question about peace in the Middle East is intended to show how a kid’s thinking sometimes makes more sense than an adult’s. Kids see things for what they are, while adults make things complicated.