http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/monterey...on/10752557.htmFlorida official set to write book on 2000 election
BY ANTHONY MAN
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - (KRT) - Theresa LePore, arguably the most famous - some would say infamous - political figure in Palm Beach County, said Wednesday she's started work on a book that includes her take on the 2000 presidential election meltdown.
It's still in the early stages, and LePore doesn't yet have a title.
Since leaving office earlier this month, she's begun work on a book proposal, which basically is an in-depth outline of chapters, together with enough juicy tidbits to excite a potential publisher.
"There's definitely a book that's in the works," she said, declining to provide details. "As far as the dirt goes, you'll have to wait for the book."
The objective, after all, is to sell books. LePore said it would be great if the book could be shrink-wrapped so prominent people have to buy it to see if they're mentioned.
LePore doesn't have an agent but she's working with Marty Rogol, a principal in the Jupiter firm Marketing Concepts Inc. Rogol is a LePore friend with national media and marketing experience.
He views a LePore book as a natural.
"If the former girlfriend of Scott Peterson can write a book that's a bestseller, I think Theresa LePore can write a book that people want to read," he said. "At least it will have substance."
Rogol said he anticipates lots of interest. "There are people out there who will never forget 2000."
That was the year LePore decided to use large type for the presidential ballot in an attempt to help older voters with poor eyesight. The large number of candidates meant the ballot required two pages for the punch-card voting system then in use.
Some voters said the so-called "butterfly ballot" was so confusing they cast votes for the wrong candidate. During the subsequent recount, Democratic leaders thought LePore hurt their candidate, Al Gore.
Democrats who blamed her for President Bush's election exacted revenge last year, replacing her with a new supervisor. Arthur Anderson took office early this month.
Interest remained so high that LePore gave election season interviews last year to reporters from China, England, France, Japan, Germany, Italy, Russia and Switzerland.
And political books are hot these days. Media forecast and analysis firm Simba Information said sales of nonfiction political books began to pick up in 2003, then soared an estimated 25 percent last year.
Mitchell Kaplan isn't sure LePore's will do well. He's proprietor of Books & Books, with three South Florida stores, and president of the American Booksellers Association.
"It's all about the book, less about the genre," he said. "Certainly there would be local interest. Whether or not there was national interest would depend on the quality and nature of the book."
Any revelations would have to be sensational for the book to make it big, he said.
Yet even LePore's chief post-2000 nemesis, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, predicted her book would do fine. "She has been a central figure in a historic event in 2000. Undoubtedly there is an audience."
Though he suspects he could be depicted as a villain, Wexler said he'd even be willing to pay for a copy - as long as LePore autographs it.
"I certainly can't wait to read it," he said. "When they make a movie out of her book, I hope Dustin Hoffman will play me."
He'll have to wait awhile to find out. LePore said she hopes the book is finished in about a year.
Staff researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.