The Prologue takes place at an unspecified time following the end of the book. The main character, 12-year-old Judson Moon, discusses his run for “president of the YOU-nited States” (1) the year before. During that time, he estimates he shook hands with “about a zillion people” (1), allowing him to perfect the art of hand-shaking. For anyone wanting to know if those handshakes gave him enough votes to win the election, Judson gives them two options. They can flip to the end or read the book. Judson would read the book, but he won’t infringe on anyone else’s choice because “it’s a free country” (2).

The story proper starts about a year before the next presidential election. Judson and his friend Lane Brainard play pool at Lane’s house while watching news coverage of prospective presidential candidates. Lane thinks a kid president would solve everything, and Judson rebuts with all the reasons a kid can’t or shouldn’t run, including age restrictions and inexperience. Finally out of arguments, Judson tells Lane he should run because he’s smart, to which Lane says, “People don’t want a smart president. They want a president who makes ’em feel good” (5).