The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

p> LOSING THE POPULAR VOTE br> The sad tale of Al Gore being condemned to the remainder bin of history continues to spin out. On Monday night, Henry Holt, the publisher for Al and Tipper Gore 's books, Joined at the Heart and The Spirit of Family , a companion coffee-table tome, released a statement saying that it was satisfied with sales of the books, and that the media blitz the Gores had undertaken was but the first leg of one that will continue well into the holiday season. /p>

"They're going to get this thing into the bottom rung of the New York Times list if it means keeping the Gores on the road for six months," says a publishing source. "Holt has too much invested in this to walk away, and the Gores aren't letting them wiggle out of anything."

The Washington Post reported yesterday that Joined at the Heart was teetering at 21 on the "extended" New York Times bestseller list. And the Gores are taking news of their tanking books as if this were Florida all over again. "They are marshaling the troops, getting all of their old friends to speak up and spin for them," says a former Gore staffer. "They're even looking into bulk purchases of the books that could eventually be donated to libraries and the like, anything to boost sales."

The bulk sales gimmick was used by supporters of Hillary Clinton when her book, It Takes a Village, was selling poorly some years ago.

topics:
John McCain, Bill Clinton, Books