Dimensions: 0.75'' x 6.50'' x 4.25'' 320 pages St. Martin's Press Publication Date: October 2000 Paperback ISBN: 0312979630

When Vice President Bully Vandercleve dies blissfully of carnal arrest while bedding down with the doyenne of network correspondents, White House Press Secretary Frank Lee is forced to keep the news under wraps until the Wisconsin presidential primary is bagged. Though Vandercleve was to have been dumped from the ticket, his untimely demise precludes this tactic which, hopefully, would have assured Governor Kleck's backing and the number-two spot, as well. Outrageous as it sounds, Lee agrees to what he thinks will guarantee the president's re-nomination, at the same time sidestepping the 25th amendment.

A satire of the first order, this humorous novel by Victor Gold ( Looking Forward with George Bush) and Lynne Cheney tickles the funny-bone. Narrated in the first-person, coupled with excerpted transcripts from inter-office memos, phone calls and other White House communications (all taped, of course), the story bounds from one rollicking situation to another as Capitol staffers try to keep the Veep's image alive. Though their mischief is patently criminal, the characters are irresistiblea motley crew of sophisticated bumblers cleverly drawn for a timely election-year offering by two of Washington's most literate journalistic veterans.

Lynne V. Cheney is a senior fellow at AEI.