A satirical stab at American political decadence, The Cougar Candidate depicts a bumbling politician struggling to hide her darkest secret as she strives for the world's most powerful job.
Years after her shocking re-election defeat, ex-governor Patty Pitypander is still sulking in her California mansion, bingeing on romance novels, and ogling her pool boy, when she is urgently drafted to run for president.
Setting her hurt feelings aside to save America, Patty takes on her rival's smear tactics, a global plot to entrap her worthless billionaire husband, and the most dangerous foe of all: her special fondness for young men.
When a na ve rookie reporter pursues rumors of a scandal in Patty's past, he quite unintentionally arouses her desire. The closer he gets to uncovering her sordid misdeeds, the more madly infatuated she becomes, even as she schemes to thwart his search.
The crafty heroine of Patty's novels appears in a vision, claiming to be an expert at winning the hearts of young men. Prodded into action, the befuddled pol risks her lifelong dream of winning the White House, waging two hopelessly entangled campaigns-one for power, the other for passion.