"Bill Clinton’s long-awaited memoir  may finally have a release date, and if so, it’s not good for the John Kerry campaign," according to New York magazine.
The suspense is over, almost. Bill Clinton's hotly anticipated memoirs will be published in late June, publisher Alfred A. Knopf announced yesterday. The former US president received a reported $US12 million ($16.3 million) for the book, to be titled My Story. That is $US4 million ($5.6 million) more than his wife Hillary received for her successful memoir Living History. "It is the fullest and most nuanced account of a presidency ever written, and one of the most revealing and remarkable memoirs I have ever had the honour of publishing," Knopf president Sonny Mehta said yesterday. "He talks with candour about his successes, as well as his setbacks, looking at both his career in public service and his life." Random House will publish the book in Australia via its Hutchinson imprint. "This will be the publishing event of the year and many Australians will be keen to hear his story," Random House managing director Margie Searle said. "We will have news shortly on whether he will be visiting Australia as part of his international promotions." Hillary Clinton's book, released last year, has sold almost 1.7 million copies in hardback. If her husband sells fewer, he won't be alone. Memoirs by ex-presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan both proved less popular than those written by their wives. Like Bob Woodward's Plan of Attack and Richard Clarke's Against All Enemies, Clinton's book is likely to make its way into the US election campaign, especially if he defends his record on fighting terrorism. A publishing source says the Random House book, most recently slated for June, will hit stores in August, after the July Democratic convention and less than three months before the election—and some Kerry supporters fear it may divert attention from their candidate. Clinton is addressing the Random House sales force this week. (He’s also agreed to speak at anti-Bush political organization MoveOn.org’s benefit on May 11 at the Apollo.) A source close to Clinton will say only that he’s finishing up the book as fast as he can—and that it could come out before the convention. Random House declined to comment, according to journalist Deborah Schoeneman.