Dear West Wing Aficianado:

In thematic terms, my election thriller The 28th Amendment is an exploration of the potential for conflict between entertainment and politics in a media-defined age.

Plot-wise, I have rendered this issue into the following question: what happens when an actor who portrays a fictional US President on television gets drawn into real-world politics?

Like (probably) you, I always felt President Bartlet and Leo McGarry were doing a far better job than W and Karl Rove ever did, so it didn't take much to start fantasizing a plot along those lines. By the time The West Wing finished its final season in 2006 I had completed the first draft of my book.

Any West Wing regular will pick up on my references to the show: in my book it's not The West Wing, it's The Oval Office.  The fictional president in my book is Alvin Bosco (pear reference to Bartlet); the real president is Burton Grove (who might that be?).

As transparent as this all may seem, it represents only a framework for the book. The overall plot, and most of the major characters, derive from other sources of inspiration.

If you read The 28th Amendment, please let me know what you think. You can post your comments on my book blog.

NOTE: In addition to being the title of my novel, the 28th Amendment is also an actual proposed amendment to the US Constitution that would limit the amount of money that can be spent on Federal general elections (my answer to Buckley v. Valeo).  My sincere but admittedly grandiose aspiration in this regard is embodied in my political web site www.amendment-28.com (click the right side of the homepage for the political effort, the left side for the novel).