 An aging politician (Spencer Tracy) tries to get re-elected one last time in the changing world of the 1950s when TV started to play a bigger part in politics. Based loosely on the career of multi-term Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, this film examines the good and evil inherent in politics and all the things that go into an election. Tracy s uphill battle to stay in office is set against the political machinery that preyed on ethnic hatred and old-time money.