The electoral map in presidential campaigns has changed quite significantly since the extremely close 1960 election, in which a young charismatic senator managed to squeak by an almost equally young incumbent vice president.

Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy enhanced his electoral chances by picking Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson as his running mate, for the widely-held view that Texas’ 24 electoral votes were crucial to victory.

Keep in mind that combining the 24 votes from Texas, which the Democrats carried by a narrow margin, with the 27 electoral votes from Illinois, which Kennedy carried by an even slimmer edge, and you have an interesting scenario if the 51 votes had gone to Vice President Richard Nixon.

But then Nixon only carried his home state of California by less than one percent. However, if he had carried Texas and Illinois, his electoral votes would have put him in the White House as the 35th president.

The changing electoral map apparently consumed Lyndon Johnson’s keen political interest four years later.

As we sadly know all too well, tragedy struck on Nov. 22, 1963, and Johnson was sworn in as the 36th president.

The HBO film “All the Way,” based upon an award-winning Broadway play, is a riveting behind-the-scenes look at the larger-than-life President Johnson’s tumultuous first year in office in the wake of President Kennedy’s assassination.

Much of the film focuses on the political battle for the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which pitted Johnson against some of his old Senate allies, notably Georgia Senator Richard Russell (Frank Langella), while he sought election year compromises to thread the political needle.

Probably the best thing about “All the Way,” which by the way is a play on the “All the Way with LBJ” campaign slogan, is that Bryan Cranston, the Tony Award-winner for playing LBJ on the Broadway stage, transforms himself again, complete with Texas twang, for the same role.

Cranston’s Lyndon Johnson is brash, profane and a Machiavellian political manipulator. Oddly enough, he frets about the upcoming 1964 election, which never should have been in doubt regardless of whether his opponent would be Barry Goldwater or Nelson Rockefeller.

Though he could be tough and merciless, Johnson is also portrayed as consumed with self-doubt and a fear of political humiliation.

But mostly, Johnson demonstrates keen deftness for maintaining a high-wire act as one who followed a beloved predecessor, a status he seemed unlikely to match.

There are great scenes with a determined Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Anthony Mackie), who is seen working feverishly to bridge the differences with factions in the civil rights movement who don’t quite trust LBJ, son of the South, to deliver on the big promises.

But then, Johnson is also seen as being tough on his mentor, Senator Russell, when he professes to love him more than his own father, but threatens to crush him if he gets in his way of passing civil rights legislation.

The one person on Johnson’s staff who seems to be the key to holding the President together is long-time aide Walter Jenkins (Todd Weeks), but the interesting thing is that only weeks before the 1964 election, Jenkins was arrested in a sex scandal in a YMCA men’s bathroom.

Little attention is paid to this scandal, which in the end had little if any impact on the election, but then “All the Way” has nothing to say at all about more damaging material involving former aide Bobby Baker and insider Billie Sol Estes.

The Lyndon Johnson political style seemed to assume the mantle of the take-no-prisoners posture, even when negotiating with allies. He’s quoted in the film as saying that “there’s no place for nice in a knife fight.”

An interesting part of the political equation for the looming election campaign against Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater was the fear of losing the South. Indeed, in 1960, the Kennedy-Johnson ticket carried most of the South with the exception of Florida.

“All the Way” revives memories of the serious political and moral skirmishes in the South, most notably in Mississippi where three young Freedom Summer workers were killed by segregationists.

As a result, there are potent reminders of the bitter fight when the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party challenged the establishment at the Atlantic City convention by seeking to have their own delegates seated as part of the state’s delegation.

All in all, “All the Way,” while allowing Melissa Leo a chance to shine as the supportive Lady Bird Johnson, is nonetheless the Bryan Cranston show. Almost forgot to mention Hubert Humphrey (Bradley Whitford), who comes across as disposable to LBJ’s political ends.

Speaking of things barely mentioned, the Vietnam War is glossed over until the end credits, which serve to note that by the Spring of 1968 the war had caused many American deaths for a cause that generated widespread protests.

I was slightly more interested in the end credit note that in “facing a divided electorate and poor health” Johnson announced in March 1968 he would not seek re-election.

Senator Eugene McCarthy might take exception to that. His significant showing in the New Hampshire primary demonstrated Johnson’s vulnerability such that New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy entered the race, with Johnson shortly thereafter announcing he would not run.

“All the Way,” airing several times in late May and early June, is tailor-made for political junkies and historians for a polarized election year in which the controversial Johnson commercial about the perils of nuclear war would come off as relatively benign.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.