The shad treatment

the long version

The Shad Treatment vividly chronicles politics during the Byrd regime's decline in the 1970s. Fiery populist Thomas Jefferson "Tom Jeff" Shadwell is leading a "people's crusade" to liberate the Virginia Governor's Mansion from the grip of the conservative political machine that has controlled the state for fifty years. Against him are ranged the powerful forces that have kept the state back for so long - unreconstructed race-baiting politicians, gentleman farmers, giant corporations, and the "best families." The campaign promises to be the toughest, dirtiest, and most brutal in decades.