In the novel, a fictitious charismatic character, John Thatch, an engineer, is seeking the nomination for the Republican Party during the 1964 presidential elections.

There exist apparent parallels between Thatch and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., a write-in hero at the New Hampshire primary.

The novel criticizes the socio-political effects on society at large from the use of computers to run massive simulations, which predict the public reaction to certain (proposed) political moves before implementing them.

The Simulmatics Corporation was created by MIT Professor Ithiel de Sola Pool, who provided a non-fiction backup to The 480 in Candidates, Issues, and Strategies: A Computer Simulation of the 1960 Presidential Election, MIT Press, 1964 (with co-authors Robert P. Abelson and Samuel L. Popkin).

Based on its output, they advised Kennedy that he would benefit from a strong civil rights stand and that he had nothing to lose, and much to gain, by attacking religious bigotry and dealing frankly with his Catholicism.