President Harry Truman once said, "The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know."

Clearly, President Barack Obama and Congress didn't know their history concerning the "Tariff of Abominations"—the 1828 version of sequestration, said William S. Bike, author of the book Winning Political Campaigns: A Comprehensive Guide to Electoral Success.

"Both the 1828 tariff and sequestration were ladled with provisions that each side thought would make the other side balk," Bike explained. "Each side's pols thought they were being clever—that they loaded up the proviso with attributes would make them look good and the other guys look bad, and that the proposal would never be enacted."

They were wrong in 1828, and they were wrong in 2013, Bike said.

"If today's politicians had any historical savvy, they would have known that sequestration, like the Tariff of 1828, could take on a momentum of its own that they would be powerless to stop," he noted.

"Democratic supporters of Andrew Jackson, who was running for President in 1828, cooked up the tariff idea as what they thought was a clever political ploy--much as the Obama White House cooked up sequestration as their own political ploy," Bike said.

The Jacksonians introduced a tariff bill that would protect domestic manufacturers from imported goods, but that also included high duties on raw materials manufacturers needed.

"They believed the latter part of the bill would turn manufacturers against it, and Congressmen from the manufacturing states of the North would join free market Southern Congressmen in defeating it," Bike explained. "Jackson would then look like a champion of protection in the North, and of the free market in the South."

Except, to everyone's surprise, the bill passed—creating the highest tariff the United States ever had enacted and causing people to call it the Tariff of Abominations.

As Senator Daniel Webster said of the tariff, "Its enemies spiced it with whatever they thought would render it distasteful; its friends took it, drugged as it was."

"Fast forward to 2011," Bike said. "The White House thought it was being clever to ladle the sequestration bill with provisions such as cuts to defense that it thought would force Republicans to compromise.

"In other words, the Obama White House spiced sequestration with whatever they thought would render it distasteful," Bike said. "Yet Republicans took it, drugged as it was.

"The Jacksonians might have figured that Northern manufacturers loved protection so much that the bill could pass; that's what happened, but the Jacksonians didn't foresee it," Bike said. "The White House might have figured that Republicans loved cutting government spending and services so much that sequestration would actually go into effect; that's what happened, but the Obama Administration didn't foresee it.

"The tariff didn't hurt Jackson's presidential run; as an early practitioner of some of the political tactics I describe in my book Winning Political Campaigns: A Comprehensive Guide to Electoral Success, he won the election of 1828 easily," Bike said.

Yet, the Tariff of Abominations led to the South coming up with the doctrine of nullification—the theory that a state could nullify a federal law it didn't like. Nullification was one of the philosophical ideas that led to the Civil War.

"One can only hope that the results of the sequestration abomination will not be as dire," Bike concluded.

More about political acumen can be found in Winning Political Campaigns: A Comprehensive Guide to Electoral Success, a how-to e-book providing information on everything a candidate, campaign worker, or activist needs to know to conduct a political race.

Winning Political Campaigns was written by William S. Bike, an award winning journalist, public relations professional, and political pundit who has appeared on many radio and television broadcasts, including CNN. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhZYkyRx-C4

Winning Political Campaigns is available on Smashwords at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/149191 and Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Political-Campaigns-Comprehensive-ebook/dp/B007U7C31K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1334443628&sr=8-2

The two previous Denali Press print editions of Winning Political Campaigns were highly acclaimed. "From a practical, political operations standpoint, it is the best book out, yet," said reviewer Hank Landa of Political Book Reviews.

Winning Political Campaigns "provides essential tools, practical pointers, and valuable advice about running campaigns successfully," writes Fran Ulmer, former Lieutenant Governor of Alaska.

Covering everything from advertising to building alliances, proper business practices, campaign literature, candidate behavior, media, voter contact, debating, fundraising, strategy, and more, Winning Political Campaigns is extremely thorough and detailed, yet easy to use. Real-life examples are drawn not only form the political world, but from the worlds of sport, higher education, history, and more.

Innovations by the Obama and Tea Party campaigns, the Citizens United Supreme Court decision on fundraising, the Lisa Murkowski write-in campaign for U.S. Senator, new uses for social media and digital advertising in campaigns, and much more state-of-the-science information and campaign innovations that have become part of the scene since the last edition, are included. They make the third edition of Winning Political Campaigns a must for candidates and staff for campaigns at any level.

Particularly useful are appendices including a sample itinerary for a political event, an event planning checklist, resource organizations expert on various issues, media terms, a sample news release and direct mail piece, and more.

One reason the book is so comprehensive is because few other authors can combine Bike's background of having been a candidate, officeholder, political worker and volunteer, journalist, historian, public relations officer, publications director, government employee, fundraiser, and budget director.

Previous editions of Winning Political Campaigns have not only been used by campaigns, but as textbooks for college and university courses at Harvard University and other institutions of higher learning.

"At a time when a majority of Americans do not participate in the political process, a process with deep impact on the lives of every American…Bill Bike is waging a campaign for involvement—meaningful involvement," said Congressman Danny K. Davis of Illinois. "Winning Political Campaigns is designed to enable ordinary citizens to take back their government, to be heard, to win. It is a timely and useful book and we welcome it."

"Let the telegenic beltway pundits propound ponderous theories on the state of democracy in the U.S.," wrote Booklist magazine. "Chicago communications consultant Bike offers the view from the trenches… Bike offers well-organized, very detailed advice on virtually every subject a candidate's support team should consider…."

For more information, contact Central Park Communications at (773) 229-0024 or http://www.centralparkcommunications.com -30-