The Last Campaign (2005)

The Last Campaign is a documentary feature film about the 2004 campaign for re-election of Justice Warren McGraw for the West Virginia Supreme Court, dubbed the "nastiest" judicial race in 2004, if not the most expensive. The US Chamber of Commerce is suspected of funneling millions of dollars to support ad campaigns against McGraw in the primary and the general election in a successful effort to defeat Justice McGraw as a part of what Forbes magazine described as a "secret war" against judges. The Chamber's shadowy efforts were joined in the general election by a group calling itself "For the Sake of the Kids" which spent millions supplied by a coal company executive in West Virginia to wage a smear campaign against McGraw alleging that he let a sexual predator loose to work in a school. That coal company executive has a pending $60 Million judgment against his company on appeal before the West Virginia Supreme Court, an appeal that will now be heard by the man he spent millions to insure was elected rather than McGraw. The Last Campaign is a sequel to the first film ever made by Wayne Ewing which was called IF ELECTED. That 1972 film covered Warren McGraw's campaign thirty-two years ago for a seat in the West Virginia State Senate. If Elected was broadcast by Bill Moyers in 1973 as a part of his series "Bill Moyers Journal" to critical acclaim: The Washington Star wrote that it was "a documentary for the ages" and The New York Times observed that the film was "thoroughly absorbing." Wayne Ewing went on to make more than forty documentaries for television, along with creating the visual style of the dramatic TV series "Homicide: Life on the Street." His most recent film is the feature documentary BREAKFAST WITH HUNTER about the outlaw Gonzo journalist Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. THE LAST CAMPAIGN incorporates scenes from its prequel IF ELECTED, making it a unique cinema verite chronicle of one man's career in politics, documenting both its beginning and end over a thirty-two year period. The film is also a reflection of how American politics has evolved over three decades.