The Miami Herald spotlights the latest must-have item for presidential candidates and possible candidates: A book.
Just about every Tom, Dick and Hillary running for president in 2008 is hawking a hardcover these days, or will be in the coming months. A ponderous subtitle conveys a powerhouse intellect; the sales ranking on Amazon.com suggests popular appeal.
"It's become absolutely essential that a candidate have a book,'' said Patricia Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers and a former Colorado congresswoman who considered running for president 20 years ago. "How else do you differentiate yourself in this sound-bite world when there are so many candidates out there?''
The Herald notes that the 2008 campaign is the first since 195 in which neither a president nor a vice president is running, a fact that has drawn many lesser-known contenders into the race. That may be one reason for the book boom among the presidential wannabees.
Publishing allows White House contenders - even before they officially declare their intentions and begin fundraising - to give speeches gussied up as cross-country book tours, often on the publisher's dime.
Democrats hawking books as a way of hawking their presidential potential:
Sen. Barack Obama, whose appearance at the Miami Book Fair International several weeks ago in connection with his book The Audacity of Hope, drew large crowds.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who announced over the weekend that he's running for the Donkeys' '08 nod, released his autobiography in 2005. Between Worlds: The Making of an American Life chronicles Richardson's rise through Congress and appointment as ambassador to the United Nations under President Bill Clinton.
And Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, recently on ABC's The View celebrating the 10th anniversary edition of It Takes a Village. (Editor's note: What? No new book? The woman hasn't had a new thought in 10 years?)
Republicans using books to burnish their presidential chances include:
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, who recently appeared on Comedy Central's Daily Show and other shows discussing his book, From Hope to Higher Ground: 12 STOPS to Restoring America's Greatness.
Anyone who has waded through jargon-laden legislation knows that many elected officials are a long way from Ernest Hemingway, their books worth little besides serving as 400-page doorstops. But Obama's rocket-fueled climb to No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list - past John Grisham and Nora Ephron - overturns the stereotype of the ghost-written treatise weighed down by wonkishness and ego. New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani - who is no pushover - wrote: "Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois and the Democratic Party's new rock star, is that rare politician who can actually write - and write movingly and genuinely about himself.''
Even the book by Huckabee - relatively unknown on the national scene - is selling. Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards just put a book onto the shelves and has edited a collection of essays on poverty due out this spring. Former Vice President Al Gore, Sen. Sam Brownback, Sen. John Kerry, Sen. John McCain and retired Gen. Wesley Clark also have galleys standing by.
And a slew of campaign stops at Barnes & Noble and Borders, no doubt.
"Ten years ago, people thought: 'Political book - why publish them? Nobody buys them,' " Schroeder told the Herald. "Amazingly, most of them are doing fairly well. Do a policy wonk book and people think - boring. But people will buy a book that tells them who this person is, as well as what they stand for.''
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