This just in from the Associated Press:
After eight years in Washington, Lynne Cheney plans to write about a politician she regards as "steady," "reserved" and given to working "from behind the scenes."
No, it's not a memoir about her husband, Vice President Dick Cheney, but a biography of James Madison.
"I think of him as an intellectual and political genius," she says during a recent interview. "It's a rare combination."
Cheney's book, "Founding Genius: A Biography of James Madison," will be published in 2011. Madison is a favorite of Cheney's, dating back, she says, to her work in the 1980s on the Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution. Cheney sponsors an annual James Madison Book Award for historical writing for young people and has written several children's best-sellers about American history, including "A is for Abigail" and "When Washington Crossed the Delaware."
Cheney usually is published by Simon & Schuster, but "Founding Genius" will be released by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) where Cheney will work with editor Wendy Wolf, whose authors include Nathaniel Philbrick, Kevin Phillips and Steven Pinker. Cheney's literary representative, Washington attorney Robert Barnett, praised Wolf, but also said that the money was key.
President Bush and Vice President Cheney have said they wanted to write memoirs, although publishers have urged them to wait, citing the administration's low approval ratings. First lady Laura Bush is already shopping a proposal, with Barnett as her representative.
Lynne Cheney, asked if she was considering a memoir, said, "Someday I might think of that," but added, "right now I'm so happy to be focused on Madison."
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