Posted on 06/12/2004 12:25:26 PM PDT by Carl/NewsMax
The national focus on the life, times and death of Ronald Reagan has put a crimp in promotional plans for ex-President Bill Clinton's $10 million memoir, "My Life," which is due out in just ten days.
Mr. Clinton had already begun hyping his book when news of Reagan's death broke last Saturday, with a speech to Chicago's Book Expo two days earlier that had garnered national headlines.
But the Clinton hype machine had to be put on ice as Americans quickly turned their attention to the 40th president.
"I'm a Democrat and I like Clinton," Laurence J. Kirshbaum, chairman of the Time Warner Book Group, told the Associated Press a day after Reagan's death. "But Ronald Reagan lives in the hearts and minds of people in a way, frankly, that Clinton doesn't."
Part of the carefully choreographed Clinton media blitz was to include an announcement Friday of all the bookstores where he had agreed to appear. But Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards told the Boston Globe on Saturday that the company postponed a press release on the book tour because of Reagan's funeral.
Publicity for "My Life" was expected to shift into high gear next week, with Mr. Clinton set to tout his memoirs on high-profile venues like CBS's "60 Minutes," "Oprah Winfrey," NBC's "Today Show" and ABC's "Good Morning America."
With coverage of Reagan still running at a fevered pitch, however, it may be tough for the 42nd president to reclaim the spotlight as soon as he'd like to.
Attempts to edge Mr. Clinton back onto the national radar screen began even before Mr. Reagan was laid to rest in California Friday evening, with Knopf announcing that "My Life" had sold out its first press run of 1.5 million in advance orders.
Still, news of Reagan's funeral dominated Saturday's news rotation, with little mention of the top Democrat's memoirs in TV, radio and print reports.
Clinton's publicists have also been forced to compete with Reagan on the literary front, with demand for books about the 40th president said to be running at all time highs.
Reagan titles that haven't moved in years have climbed into Amazon's top 100, with publishers scrambling to meet the new demand.
What's more, several new books on Reagan are being rushed into print, a move that has even Mr. Clinton's publisher hedging its bets.
Knopf announced last week that Reagan daughter Patti Davis has been working on a book about her father for some time, with company spokesman Bogaards saying the Davis book would be released "soon."
That could force Clinton to compete with Davis for TV face time after the initial burst of publicity for "My Life" subsides.
The timing of Reagan's death may turn out to be even worse news for Sen. John Kerry, who put his campaign on ice for the week-long Reagan commemoration. Some say he might as well take next week off, too; what with the Clinton publicity machine likely to elbow him out of the way as it struggles to make up for lost time.
Another factor that has to concern Knopf bean counters: Clinton's last book - a 1996 tome titled "Between Hope and History" - was a huge commercial flop.
klintoon knows how to write ?
He has a book coming out ?
"Between Hope and History"
Between the "dope and his story," one of America's greatest Presidents finally recieved a portion of his just due.
Oh, what a shame! < /sarcasm >
If I'm not around when his death occurs, please see to it that his casket is draped with the flag of China.
Gee .. could this be why Clinton pretended to fall asleep at the funeral yesterday??
To get a reaction and get folks to start talking about him again?
You are way too dignified and restrained for my tastes. I could never pull THAT off. lo)
I rather like the old story about the man who was going to pour a bottle of really good Scotch on someone's grave--only he was going to drink it first.
OUCH ... LOL
LOL...second "hand" Scotch.
The Lord took RR in His timing. Can't blame any earthly person for this one. Tehehehe!!!!
Priceless! Sure is nice to see Clinton being upstaged for a change.
Maybe Ronnie thought that there was yet another wall to tear down and one more victory that we needed to win. It wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that he and God had the timing all worked out and I think they're both smiling.
I thought the same thing. Some things just sorta go together.
Don't you mean the marriage of political codependency?
Agreed.
That thing in Arkansas isn't a library. It's a big trailer for rewriting history and money laundering.
.
You're right! - that is more accurate!
Sure they can. Just go to the DUh, if you have the stomach for it. I'm sure there are any number of tinfoilers over there that are certain Bush that slipped him something.
BUMP YOUR POST!
I thought of that, too. Just think, if Clinton had not been caught snoozing, no one would be talking about him now. I've heard it mentioned on TV several times today. The Beltway Boys just brought it up a little while ago.
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