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."
