Wag the Election

The day after the election, a missile slams into the Statue of Liberty, and a mortar explodes at a nuclear power plant in Iowa. Al Qaeda? No, it's a plot by high-ranking Republicans to steal the presidential election -- a plot that doesn't seem all that far-fetched as it unfolds in The Librarian (Nation Books), a bitingly funny political satire by Larry Beinhart. Beinhart, whose 1993 novel American Hero was made into the movie Wag the Dog, makes even the wildest scenario read like the back story behind today's headlines. He got the idea for The Librarian when a Bush-hating friend casually remarked that "this is a regime that even if they lost the election, they wouldn't let go of power." The result is a comic thriller of presidential politics: Think John Grisham meets Jon Stewart. "I wanted it to be a popular book instead of a rant," Beinhart says. President Augustus Winthrop Scott is a rich dimwit who's been handed the Oval Office on a silver platter by his corporate donors. But when he's trounced in the debates by Sen. Anne Murphy, who served as a nurse in Vietnam, his support plummets. His backers have a secret plan, known only as One One Three, that involves sending tanks to Florida and blackmailing the Electoral College. But the plot is discovered by David Goldberg, a university librarian who suddenly finds himself playing James Bond to save democracy. "I wanted my action hero to be a very ordinary guy," says Beinhart. "And librarians were the first people in this country to stand up and resist the forces of ultra patriotism." But the most memorable character -- and the most implausible -- is Calvin Hagopian, a reality-TV producer turned media strategist. Hagopian, who likes to meditate to the hum of seventeen televisions, is as ruthless and creative as Karl Rove -- and he works for the Democrats. "Hey," says Beinhart, "I can dream, can't I?"