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New Wrinkle on Old Ritual -- Book Tour as Presidential Campaign Vehicle
By James Oliphant, Tribune Interactive, Washington Bureau - 11/21/2009
JAMES OLIPHANT Reporting from Grand Rapids, Mich.
"Team Huck" rolls into the bookstore like a NASCAR pit crew, red uniform shirts adorned with the corporate logos of Mike Huckabee's website, his speaker's bureau, his publisher, and "Huck" emblazoned on their epaulets.
They strip the protective wrappings off a large, heavy object -- a podium they install at all such appearances. Mike Huckabee doesn't sit at tables. He stands, as a president would, even to sign books.
And sign he does. And sign and sign and sign. As many as 600 copies of "A Simple Christmas" an hour with sales to match, and no time lost to opening remarks.
It's an old ritual put to an updated use: The traditional author's book tour transformed into a vehicle for setting up to launch a campaign for the White House. Where presidential hopefuls once travelled the country buttering up party bosses and courting county chairmen, today's would-be candidates often choose a different approach -- the national book tour.
As practiced by Huckabee, Sarah Palin and others, the political book tour has become a low-risk, high-reward form of virtual campaigning. The author-politicians can operate in an environment more tightly controlled than an announced run for office. They can focus on building personal ties to their most passionate supporters independent of local party officials. They can sidestep the pesky national news media in favor of generally hospitable local coverage.
And the reception is generally less critical. After all, they're in town to talk about books, not issues. And their books are packed with homespun anecdotes and are largely personality-driven.
"You stay close to the action but not close enough to be responsible for any of it," said Republican image consultant Brian Kirwin. "It's not a press conference or an interview that can be edited later."
What's more, if the run for office doesn't pan out, there's still a big payday – thousands of dollars to be made on a best-seller.
In the case of former Arkansas Gov. Huckabee, it's a paen to Christmas and his own humble beginnings. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is plugging "Going Rogue," the sharp-edged, score-settling account of her 2008 vice presidential campaign; it's more political than Huckabee's latest volume, but it's more about dishing the dirt than policy.
And Palin is being received as a celebrity, not a political leader who's expected to have a detailed answer to the Afghanistan war or unemployment.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who like Huckabee sought the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, is scheduled to bring out a new book next spring. In keeping with Romney's earnest approach, however, the book, "No Apology: The Case for America's Greatness," is expected to more focused on issues and policy themes.
The latest crop of Republican hopefuls did not invent the concept of the campaign book tour, of course. Three years ago, Barack Obama used his book "The Audacity of Hope" as a springboard for a series of highly successful, well publicized road shows in advance of his presidential run.
But Huckabee and Palin seem to be taking it to another level.
Palin, in fact, came to Grand Rapids the day after Huckabee, and signed books for more than 1,000 fervent fans.
The location was fitting. This western Michigan town is home to Amway Corp., the company that pioneered multi-level marketing.
Huckabee is seemingly a master of that, traveling multiple media avenues. Besides his book--which already is a best-seller--he has a weekly television program (titled, naturally, "Huckabee") on Fox News Channel. He provides radio commentaries. He gives speeches.
Palin is just getting started. But both are selling more than their products. They're pushing their personas, testing what might be called their commercial appeal, with a foot each in the camps of politics and pop culture.
"God bless 'em for that," said Rex Elsass, a GOP political consultant based in Ohio. "It's good business, and it's good politics."
Sometimes it seems to be a confusing mix of both. Even more than Huckabee, Palin's day here last week resembled a campaign stop. She arrived in a brightly painted bus emblazoned with a colossal image of the cover of her memoir "Going Rogue"-and also prominently featuring logos for Facebook and Twitter.
She made a few brief remarks, shook some hands in the adoring crowd, and gave a brief interview--to "Access Hollywood."
The book, Palin said, allows her supporters to read her words "unfiltered" in the same way she posts messages directly through Facebook and other social networks. Except for carefully chosen outlets, she can bypass the traditional media altogether.
In Michigan, there were no speeches, no sit-downs with the local press. Palin's handlers that day weren't part of any campaign. They worked for the corporations sponsoring the book tour.
In that way, Palin seemed less a politician than a product, with her own down-to-earth marketing message. She did not bring her own podium; she sat at an ordinary table, level with her fans.
While most campaigns boast about the size of the crowds their candidates attract, Palin's bookseller, Barnes and Noble, wouldn't talk about it--ostensibly for strategic reasons--even though lines snaked outside the store and filled the adjoining mall.
"We don't give out those kinds of numbers," store officials repeatedly said.
That makes it an altogether different animal than a campaign operation, GOP consultant Elsass said--with some drawbacks.
Because of the tightly tailored nature of the tour, Elsass said, the authors were not free to forge stronger relationships with local party leaders, endorse candidates, or mingle with fund-raisers. "It frustrates a lot of people," he said.
Huckabee and Palin are "scheduled, they're totally controlled by their business interests," Right now, he said, they "are focusing on earning a living. I think a political agenda is totally secondary."
While Huckabee and Palin are playing an outside game, others are working on the inside, especially potential 2012 candidate Tim Pawlenty, the present governor of Minnesota.
For the most part, Romney is also taking a more traditional tack, focusing on delivering policy speeches and strengthening his ties with the GOP establishment.
"Romney's doing it from where he's more comfortable," said Republican consultant Kirwin. "He's a fundraiser. He's staying in the minds of the insider base."
Such an approach likely won't lead to the kind of blockbuster sales Huckabee and Palin's books are ringing up. Palin's release is expected to debut on top of the best-seller lists, and Huckabee won't be far behind.
Will Weisser, vice president of Penguin Books, Huckabee's publisher, calls it a boom year for right-leaning publishers. Earlier in the decade, Penguin created a special imprint, Sentinel, to appeal to conservative readers, like the ones who lined up in Grand Rapids this week.
Democrats in power, he said, are good for business.
"Just about the worst year for conservative books overall was 2008, the last year of the Bush administration," Weisser said. "As soon as President Obama came into office, it was renewed with vigor."
Weiser said he doubted a Christmas-themed book would diminish Huckabee's standing as a serious-minded national candidate. "He wrote a political book last year, ("Do the Right Thing")," Weisser said. "This will help you get to know him in a very personal way."
Huckabee last week seemed completely at ease in the book tour environment and never straying far from playing the pitchman. "I think if everyone reads and buys my Christmas book, that will solve most of America's problems," he joked.
With a practices eye on the clock, he never spent more than 10 seconds with an individual, but each got the lingering handshake and firm look in the eye that conveyed Huckabee's sense of their importance.
He' whipped through almost 600 patrons in little over an hour – and sold many more copies of "A Simple Christmas."
He put off any talk of running for president, focusing instead on the book. "I think what people see in my stories, they'll see in their own," he said. And, he added, "They'll see they don't have to have a TV show or a radio program to make a difference."
But at the same time, having those things – plus a book ranked way up there on the charts -- doesn't hurt either.
