Counselor to the President. Wife and mother. The woman who left the White House to put family first, and moved back to Texas. Karen Hughes has been described as 'the most powerful woman ever to serve in the White House" (Dallas Morning News) and President George W. Bush's 'most essential advisor" (ABC News). 'The rule of thumb in any White House is that nobody is indispensable except the president," said The New York Times, 'But Karen Hughes has come as close to that description as any recent presidential aide." Ten Minutes from Normal is her often humorous, disarmingly down-to-earth and politically fascinating journey of her time in President Bush's inner circle. As Counselor to The President for his first eighteen months in the White House and as his communications director since he first ran for Governor of Texas in 1994, Hughes has been a crucial influence. When he first moved to Washington, President Bush told members of the White House staff that he wanted Karen in the room whenever any major decisions were made. In the summer of 2002, she announced her headline-making, nearly unprecedented decision to leave her powerful White House position and move her family home to Texas. She continues to advise the president on communications strategy from her home in Austin, Texas. Karen grew up all over the world, as an Army brat whose father served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. As an undergraduate at Southern Methodist University, she fell in love with journalism then began her career in television journalism at KXAS-TV, the NBC affiliate in Dallas/Forth Worth. As a journalist she was fascinated by politics and inspired by people who sought elective office to improve their communities. Ultimately, she became a full-time political reporter and saw how politics could truly affect people's everyday lives in ways that mattered. She met her husband, Jerry Hughes, a single father who had custody of his daughter, Leigh, while she was a reporter at KXAS-TV. When the...