Across the span of his 35-year career reporting on local, state, and national politics, USA TODAY White House correspondent Richard Benedetto has interviewed and closely watched a wide variety of politicians and public servants. This memoir and personal reflection considers the coverage and treatment of politics and politicians by today's media and offers suggestions for improvement. Benedetto argues that despite the often-cynical news coverage, most politicians are good people who, like all human beings, have strengths and weaknesses. He believes politicians deserve to be praised when they do well, as much as criticized when they fail. Politicians Are People, Too celebrates and offers personal insights on many of the thousands of public figures Benedetto has encountered—an eclectic list of politicians, public servants, and even a few celebrities, including George Wallace, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Dan Quayle, Mario Cuomo, Gary Hart, Paul Newman, Spiro Agnew, George W. Bush, Henry Cisneros, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and Ted Williams.

"Politicians Are People, Too is [Richard Benedetto's] delightful retrospective on 35 years of covering government leaders...This is not a dull political memoir, but ...a stimulating reflection on politicians, famous and not-so-famous, who just so happen to be people, too. Best of all, it's woven tightly around a journalistic ethic that must never be compromised as we go about this business of reporting the news...A job well done." - The Utica Observer-Dispatch

"The political reporting career that produced the rich material for Benedetto's book started in Buffalo with his coverage of George Wallace's 1968 presidential campaign and eventually brought him to Washington in 1982 to help launch the Gannett Company's USA Today and then serve as its White House and national political correspondent. Many of the vignettes that fill the book are drawn from the years in the White House covering Presidents George H.W. Bush (with whom Benedetto jogged on occasion), Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, and from his travels as a member of the White House press corps." - U.S., Mayor