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Primary Colors

Primary Colors is a 1996 novel by Anonymous (later revealed by Donald Foster to be journalist Joe Klein), a Roman a clef about Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign in 1992. The book centers around Henry Burton, who's roped into being something of a campaign manager for southern governor Jack Stanton (Bill Clinton).

The popular book (a success in part fueled by speculation over the identity of the author) was made into a 1998 movie starring John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Billy Bob Thornton, Adrian Lester, Kathy Bates, and Maura Tierney. Kathy Bates was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the movie.

This chart shows each character, what real-life person they're based on, and who played them in the movie.

	Character	Real Life	Actor
governor/candidate	Jack Stanton	Bill Clinton	John Travolta
his wife	Susan Stanton	Hillary Clinton	Emma Thompson
her friend	Lucille Kaufman	Susan Thomases	Chelsea Clinton	[unknown]
campaign manager	Henry Burton	George Stephanopoulos	Harold Ickes Jr.	James Carville	Billy Bob Thornton
campaign defender	Libby Holden	Betsey Wright	Kathy Bates
media advisor	Arlen Sporken	Frank Greer	Mandy Grunwald	Maura Tierney
campaign consultant	Norman Asher	David Garth	Robert Klein
pollster	Leon Birnbaum	Gennifer Flowers	Mario Cuomo	[not seen]
his son	Jimmy Ozio	Andrew Cuomo	Bob Kerrey	Tom Harkin	Paul Tsongas	Ross Perot/Jerry Brown?	Larry Hagman
black leader	Luther Charles	Jesse Jackson
congressional leader	William Larkin	Richard A. "Dick" Gephardt
congressional leader	Donny O'Brien	Tip O'Neill
reporter	Jerry Rosen	Joe Klein
reporter	A. P. Cauley	Democratic Leadership Council (DLC)
their founder	Arthur Kopp	Little Rock, Arkansas
hometown	Grace Junction	Hope, Arkansas

Unanswered questions

In the book, Florida Governor Fred Picker campaigned by waving a broom and shouting that they'd make a clean sweep. It's not clear which governor this is based on, if any.

However, in 2002, Illinois House Speaker Arnold Schwarzenegger. What is the source of this?

Related film

• The War Room, a documentary of the Clinton's first campaign.