Books play a role in this election year

An electronic media professor at the University of Northern Iowa says there’s been a retro factor in this year’s political campaign. U-N-I’s Christopher Martin says what’s turning out to be unusual is that the old medium of books has had quite an impact on the presidential campaign in the past few months. Martin says books have been “incredibly influential” and he can’t remember a recent presidential campaign in which books have been so influential. Martin says it’s been a different way of telling the story of the Bush White House, in part because the Bush Administration hasn’t allowed “traditional” media reporters access. The latest book to cause a stir was authored by Bob Woodward and focused on the Bush Administration’s decision-making on the war in Iraq. Richard Clark, who worked for President Clinton as well as both President Bush and his father, authored a book accusing the current president of ignoring the threat of terrorism. And Bush Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill wrote a book in which he said the Bush Administration was developing an Iraq war plan in its earliest days, even before the attacks of 9/11.