Elephant: The 12 Things I Learned When I Ran for Office

"Elephant: The 12 Things I Learned When I Ran For Office" is a nonfiction memoir by Muhammad Ali Hasan (aka Miguel Ali), a political candidate who ran for Colorado's State House in 2008. It was a candidacy that started with a major scandal, plunging Hasan to the bottom of the polls, where he faced a 30 point deficit in May of 2008. But rather than drop out, Hasan fought. He knocked on over 20,000 doors throughout Colorado's Rocky Mountains. And by September of 2008, not only did Hasan roar back, vaulting himself as the frontrunner of the race, he also kept a diary of all the things he learned as he worked to not only win a race, but regain his reputation. "Elephant" is his diary.