Reid offers a back story to his story

By Lisa Mascaro

Thursday, May 1, 2008 | 11:40 a.m.

WASHINGTON— Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s new book, “The Good Fight,” hits bookstores today, and despite its truculent title (supported by a life of anecdotes) Reid insists it’s a metaphor.

“You know all that fighting stuff, that physical fighting, that isn’t what the book’s supposed to be about,” Reid said during a recent interview at his office in the Capitol. “That’s just kind of the environment I was raised in. But I’m trying to put all that behind, the physical part of it.”

You can read our review of the book here.

But if you want the outtakes, or are wondering how it came to be that Reid became an author, here’s a little bit a the back story from a recent interview Reid did with the Sun.

Reid said he has had offers in the past to collaborate on his life's story. He had written a book about his hometown, “Searchlight: The Camp that Didn’t Fail,” and another unpublished account of one of his cases as a trial attorney in Nevada. But he wanted this book to be his own.

Reid is a student of history. He had begun chronicling his own but it was his former chief of staff, Susan McCue, for whom one of the book’s dedications is made, who nudged him saying, “’You’ve got to tell people who you are, what you’ve done. It’s a big deal.’” Reid recalled. “I’ve never been too impressed with all that. But she was.”

He and co-writer Mark Warren met up in May 2006 to begin the project, when Reid’s chances of becoming the majority leader would have required a miracle, as he once put it.

When the November election brought Democrats to power, they knew they had a story to tell.

The two would sit for hours, Reid telling stories, Warren capturing it on his tape recorder.

Finally, they began to write. Warren would pen chapters and send them to Reid. Reid would send them back with revisions and changes.

Politicos may wonder about the timing, if Reid thought the book might help Democrats’ chances in 2008 or the majority leader’s own re-election in 2010.

“There was no great strategy, frankly, of mine, anyway,” he said.

The publisher has produced 58,000 copies of the book, and Reid will be signing books in coming weeks in New York, California and, of course, Nevada. TV and radio appearances are lined up.

When asked at his weekly press briefing today what he was doing to prepare for his inaugural visit on Monday to “The Daily Show,” Reid deadpanned: “The only thing I’m doing to prepare for Jon Stewart is pretend I’ve never watched the program.”

Reid downplays the book’s stand-out zingers as mostly old news, stories he has retold over the years — like the one in the opening chapter when he repeats former Sen. Lloyd Bensten calling then-incoming First Lady Barbara Bush a not very nice word.

“The Barbara Bush thing,” he said in his office, “I’ve told that story to I’ll bet 100 people. It was part of my routine. It wasn’t made in any way to denigrate her. I’ve never met her that I know of. I may have met her at the White House, but I certainly have nothing at all against her. I had great affection for her husband. The purpose of putting it in this book was to show the difference between Mr. Bush No. 1 and Mr. Bush No. 2.”

What about the stuff he left out, like the times he stood on the Senate floor in filibuster, once reading from his book “Searchlight,” Jimmy Stewart style, to halt business? Now, as Democrats complain Republicans are abusing the filibuster to block their bills, it didn’t fit the narrative.

“There’s so much that’s going on the floor now,” he said. “I criticize the filibusters, so I figured I’d stay away from that.”

And the language? The book includes some F-bombs as Reid quotes others using the swear word. “Don’t think I didn’t get a lot of heat, especially… from my wife.”

Reid seems to have enjoyed what it took to tell his tale.

“It was fun – I don’t know if fun is the right word,” he said.

“I’m sure a lot of my fans won’t like what’s in my book – some people think I’m goody-two-shoes. But I’m not saying any of that, I’m writing a history book.”