MISTY MEMORIES
Bill Clinton had the opportunity to delay release
of his presidential memoirs, but instead chose to release them in
late June, believing it would allow him to help the Democratic
Party in the November elections.
“It was portrayed as a personal and political decision on his
part,” says a publicity associate for Knopf, the publisher of
Clinton’s upcoming book. “We could have held off until after
November and still made a huge push for Christmas. We could easily
have had him doing advance publicity to generate sales. But he
wanted it this way.”
Clinton, who is said to have been paid more than $10 million for
the book, is still writing it. And the book is being published on a
schedule more in line with a quickie book that is designed to make
money off a person’s 15 minutes of fame than with a traditional,
presidential memoir.
“It’s going to be brutal. As far as we have been told, we aren’t
even halfway through a working galley for our editors,” says the
Knopf source. “Generally, for a book like this you like to have two
or three months to really create something special. We don’t have
that luxury.”
Clinton’s decision to push the book through in late June/early
July, means he will be getting almost nonstop media attention
throughout the summer. While some DNC insiders claim Clinton’s
media presence will hurt Democratic presidential candidate Sen.
John Kerry, Clinton apparently thinks
otherwise.
“He thinks this will allow him to speak out in support of
Senator Kerry in any number of forums, from Oprah to
Dateline NBC,” says a former Clinton Administration
staffer with knowledge of the discussions on Clinton’s PR push.
“And really, this election is less about Kerry and more about
getting Bush and Republicans out of power. Clinton knows he can
help a lot more Democrats out on the stump, pushing this book, than
just Kerry.”
Clinton apparently is anticipating a major role at the
Democratic Convention, as he has cleared three days of publicity
for the book for his presence in Boston. Otherwise, he will be
spending his summer vacation crisscrossing the country, doing
numerous TV shows.
According to a Kerry campaign source, intermediaries for the
once and possibly future leaders of the free world discussed the
release date of the book, and that Kerry’s camp, while expressing
concern about a pre-election release, explicitly asked only that it
not be released in September or October.
BAYH THE WAY
Look for former Indiana governor and current U.S. Senator
Evan Bayh maybe to travel out of Washington in the
near future for serious face time with John Kerry.
Bayh has met with Kerry’s vice-presidential vetter Jim
Johnson at least twice, but Bayh has not sat down with
Kerry. While the two know each other from the Senate, they were not
considered to have a close working relationship.
Bayh is considered a top tier candidate if only because of his
moderate credentials as governor, and because the Kerry camp
believes he can help the campaign win Ohio and Pennsylvania, two
states Kerry would have to win to have a shot at the White
House.
Kerry campaign staffers say any meetings between the candidate
and prospective veeps will most likely take place in Kerry’s Boston
or Washington, D.C. homes. “Any of the other homes are too
isolated. High profile guests would get picked up too easily,” says
a source.
Kerry is believed to have held initial meetings with some
potential No. 2’s, including Iowa governor Tom
Vilsack and New Mexico governor Bill
Richardson. No meeting has occurred with Sen. John
Edwards or Rep. Dick Gephardt.
