Who are the authors for John McCain?

There is the group Authors for Obama, organized by Ayelet Waldman and her husband, Michael Chabon, which raises money for Barack Obama's presidential campaign. There is YA for Obama, a community website where authors of young-adult fiction encourage young people to enter the political discussion around Obama. And Largehearted Boy has posted a series of essays by authors and musicians called "Why Obama."

Where are the authors who are speaking out publicly for McCain? Well, Google can't find them. A search for "Authors for McCain" turns up eight results -- six of those are for T-shirts and other products at Cafe Press, part of an 800-plus "professions for McCain" listing, appearing on a page with "Affiliate Managers for McCain-Palin," "Allergists for McCain-Palin" etc. The other two are simply commentary.

A Google search for "Authors for Obama," by contrast, turns up more than 6,000 results.

Where are the authors who are supporting McCain?

Even if there are no groups of authors, there must be some who support him individually. At OpenSecrets.org, which has a searchable database of campaign contributions, I found a few.

• William J. Bennett, former secretary of Education and author of, most recently, "America, the Last Best Hope."
• Linda Bruckheimer of Santa Monica, novelist and wife of film producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
• Nelson DeMille, bestselling author of thrillers.
• Martin Feldstein, Harvard economist and author of "Privatizing Social Security"
• Glenn Hubbard, Columbia economist and author of the textbook "Money, the Financial System, and the Economy"
• Brenda Joyce, author of the bestselling "Masters of Time" romance series.

My admittedly imperfect method was to search for McCain donors who listed "Self-Employed/Author" as their profession, then check their publication record and check their bios against the donor's listed place of residence.  This didn't reveal any authors who may have listed another employer (say, a university), so I also looked for donations from some well-known economists who signed on to a McCain jobs plan in July. Still, it's not a huge list.

If you know of authors getting together to speak up for McCain, send an e-mail to jacketcopyla (at) gmail.com.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photos: John McCain by Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times; Barack Obama by Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images

Comments

[Ellen Hopkins]

Authors are artistic, creative folk, generally liberal in their thinking for many reasons. (Despising the very idea of "censorship" in any form comes to mind. Oh yes, and the first amendment issue--why should it be on every conservative chopping block, while the second amendment is inviolable?) I think the reason you find more authors for Obama than for McCain should be relatively obvious!!

[Cal Godot]

In the comments sections of various editorials, articles, and blog entries, I note few McCain supporters seem to have a solid grasp of grammar. Most write fragmented sentences, replete with misspellings and phrasings lifted from campaign talking points. Perhaps they are bots. Or perhaps most Republicans lack the ability to communicate clearly. (Oh, and I should note: I'm a Republican, but also a former English major and working writer. And I do not support McPain.)

[A. G. Thomas]

It's too dangerous for an author to identify himself or herself as a conservative. We risk not being published or, if published, not reviewed. It's like being a radical in the McCarthy era, except that the persecutors are now the liberals who dominate the media and the publishing industry. Their victims are those who don't run with the herd.

[Teresa]

Interesting post, and I found it because I just ran across a book in the YA section of Target called "Obama: A Promise of Change" and was wondering if there are any McCain books meant to indoctrinate children, as well. The only YA book I found was written by McCain and is not about HIMSELF but a range of heroes through world history called "Character is Destiny".

[Celinna]

Oh please, no author will put themselves out there for Mccain because they'd risk their future.

For example, the people who published the McCain children's picture book are getting blasted just for working on it. Which of course is hypocritical since the same people who are attacking them outcry censorship of ideas.

There are plenty of authors for McCain out there. They just prefer to stay working authors.