Christie Whitman for the People

Sandy McClure traces Whitman's roots back to the days when she was a young tomboy plotting pranks at her parents' rural estate in northwestern New Jersey. She provides an inside look at Whitman's family heritage: the impact of her politically active grandparents, her role as the daughter of Republican party movers and shakers, her early years at the Republican National Committee, her marriage to the grandson of a New York governor, and her devotion to her role as a mother. This story includes the controversies of Whitman's early years in local and state politics and tells how her near defeat of U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley, the state's most popular politician, launched her bid for the statehouse.