HBO Filmmakers Get Inside Obama Campaign

DAVID BAUDER

NEW YORK (AP) — Pivotal presidential campaigns are frequently defined in retrospect by documentaries.

"The War Room" chronicled Bill Clinton's political operation in 1992, adding a phrase to the political lexicon in the process. Alexandra Pelosi's "Journeys With George" captured the oddities of a national campaign on board George W. Bush's airplane in 2000.

The makers of "By the People: The Election of Barack Obama," which premieres Tuesday — Election Night — on HBO, wouldn't mind the same status.

"That was our hope — that we would create something for history," said filmmaker Alicia Sams, who made the documentary with colleague Amy Rice and a key assist from actor Edward Norton.

Rice was inspired by Obama's speech to the Democratic National Convention in 2004 and wanted to do a film about him as an up-and-coming political leader. Her friend Sams signed on, but they couldn't get their phone calls to Obama's office returned until Norton called on their behalf. He's still involved as a producer.

They got lucky. They wound up with a far more important story than they had dreamed about.