Saturday, May 19, 2007

Presidential Candidates' Reading Choices

The AP recently asked all eighteen currently declared presidential candidates "What is the last work of fiction you've read?" Chaos, bad jokes, and complete misunderstandings of the term 'fiction' ensued:

- Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE): The Runaway Jury by John Grisham.
- Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS): The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson. Note: not generally considered fiction; more a religious/spiritual self-help guide.
- Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY): Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Note: also not fiction.
- Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT): The Broker by John Grisham.
- Fmr. Sen. John Edwards (D-NC): Exile by Richard North Patterson.
- Fmr. Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R-NY): The Beach House by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge.
- Fmr. Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR): "My oldest son's screenplay."
- Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA): "The Democrats' proposal to balance the budget."
- Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH): Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman.*
- Sen. John McCain (R-AZ): A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.
- Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL): Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.
- Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM): "The administration's energy plan."
- Fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA): Term Limits by Vince Flynn.
- Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO): An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore. Hilaaaarious [rolls eyes].

Former senator Mike Gravel (D-AK), former governor Tommy Thompson (R-WI), former governor Jim Gilmore (R-VA), and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) did not answer.

* The AP piece calls Kucinich "Perhaps the most avid reader in the presidential field," saying he "consumes about a book a week."