Can you remember a candidate who wrote a BOOK just before he ran?????

[ShaneGR]

Seriously, how many candidates have a book detailing their stands on foreign policy and Iraq one month after they announce they're running. I'll give you one. Wesley Clark.

Coming to a bookstore near you next month:

[disgruntella]

1. well, a bunch of the candidates have a book coming out this year.

There was a thread on this somewhere - I'll try to dig it up.

[KittyWampus]

2. Don't They All?

Although some probably contribute more and others rely more heavily on ghost writers.

[Yupster]

3. That was my reaction Crying

pretty much every candidate has a book come out to coincide with their running.

Even Bush had one -- It was called "A Charge to Keep."

[RevolutionStartsNow]

8. Bush wrote a book. Funny.

Next you'll try to tell me that he READ a book.

[Seneca]

21. Karen Hughes wrote it

I can't bring myself to even open it up, and from what I heard, you had to buy your own crayons.

[disgruntella]

4. Some other books

Not to rain on your parade, just for accuracy's sake:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=323421

[ElkHunter]

5. Most serious presidential candidates...

...write books that are published about the time they run for office. McCain had a bestseller in 2000, Faith of Our Fathers, that hit the stands about the time he started campaigning. Jimmy Carter had a book called, Why Not the Best? Most of the rest I can't remember because they are remarkably forgetable.

(By the way, although not written by a candidate, one book I enjoyed was Vote! published in '72. The original title was supposed to be Red Star Over the White House. It was written by Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman in support of the McGovern campaign.)

[blm]

6. How many wrote a book about the New War on Terror in 1997?

Kerry understood the terrorism problem and the funding of terrorism as a worldwide scandal in 1997. Now THAT is the kind of prescience you want in a president.

btw... Kerry's biography is by a noted historian. Kerry is a historic figure, even though the newbie political experts here at DU claim he's an empty suit.

[Sterling]

7. Hitler did.

Kinda anyway. It may have been a few years before but he detailed his plan pretty well in that book.

[ScotTissue]

9. That's a HARD one.

Wesley Clark
Al Sharpton
Joe Lieberman
Al Gore
Bill Clinton
George Bush
John McCain
Pat Buchanan
Richard Nixon
John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Oh my brain hurts from working too quick--I'd say roughly 25% of candidates.

[RichV]

13. Bill Bradley did...

... The Journey from Here. In 2000. Got mine signed. :)

[NewYorkerfromMass]

17. Mike Dukakis (The Massachusetts Miracle)

I actually read the darned thing too.

[jburton]

10. Holy Joe did

Spring of 2000, and he was just angling for VP

[Bombtrack]

11. Edwards has one coming out in March

.

[KaraokeKarlton]

12. Dean has one coming out by Simon and Schuster in November

That I hear is going to tell his vision for America and his story. I'll bet it's going to be a best seller, too.

[Cat Atomic]

14. Wow- pretty surprising title. "American Empire"?

The "e" word is sort of taboo in the mainstream.

[DemBones DemBones]

15. They almost all do and they're almost all

worthless as anything but campaign literature.

[bitchkitty]

16. It's nice that you're so

"in love" with your candidate, as our last elected President puts it, but surprise, he's not the only one who has written a book. The candidates' literary output is not a concern for me, though.

Dean's going to kick Clark's ass! (just kidding, kind of. don't jump on me) Seriously, I think he is going to win, and win big in 2004.

[depakid]

18. JFK not only wrote a book before running for the presidency

he earned a Pulitzer Prize for it.

The book was called Profiles in Courage, and should be made mandatory reading for all Democratic members of Congress- and state legislatures.

[jsw_81]

19. JFK's book

His daddy had someone "help" him write it if you know what I mean.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

20. No. JFK had somone help him.

And after the PT-109 incident, etc. etc. who can blame him for wanting help?
Your genuine interest in pursuing the Democratic party's ideals is questionable, if you know what I mean.

[Seneca]

22. it was ghostwritten

Ted Sorenson pretty much wrote "Profiles In Courage". That doesn't mean Kennedy didn't have a say so in its content, but beyond conceptualizing, he didn't sit down at the typewriter and hash it out.

It is not exactly a secret - no one in the Kennedy clan denies it. Any historian worth his salt knows so.