Author Barbara Boxer, a three-term senator from California who was re-elected in 2004, tries her hand at fiction with her debut novel, Time To Run. Joshua Fischer, Greg Hunter, and Ellen Downey are three bright individuals who befriend each other at the University of California Berkeley in the 1970’s. They were all headed for promising futures in law and journalism until Josh’s proposal to Ellen redefined the trio’s relationships. Ellen marries Josh and assumes his candidacy when he dies during his Senate campaign. Now, on the eve of the election of a controversial ultraconservative Hispanic female for Supreme Court justice, Senator Ellen is given the perfect weapon: sensitive documents that could wreck the nomination. However, she isn’t sure if she can trust its source — right wing conservative Greg, her former lover and friend. Barbara Boxer’s insider’s knowledge of politics gives this story an extra satisfying edge as she aptly tackles friendship, idealism, corruption, and all the behind-the-scenes machinations of politics.