We know this much about who will win the Republican primaries for U.S. Senate and governor and who will represent Democrats in those races: The winners will be writers. To better understand the candidates, I read three memoirs, a book compilation of 18 radio interviews and three novels. I skipped GOP Senate hopeful Tom Campbell's legal textbook. So sue me.
Steve Poizner: State insurance commissioner, GOP candidate for governor.
Book: "Mount Pleasant."
National Public Radio's Ira Glass read Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner's memoir, "Mount Pleasant," about his time as a volunteer teacher in a San Jose public high school, and determined that Poizner failed to engage students. "The conclusion Poizner comes to -- again and again during these scenes -- isn't that he's doing anything wrong or has anything to learn as a teacher. Instead, he blames the kids."
To the contrary, while most political memoirs put candidates in soft light, in this memoir co-written with Andrew Tilin, Poizner beats up on himself throughout the book.
After his first time teaching, he went home that night and announced, "Taught like a true rookie." Told about a weeklong workshop on classroom management, he grabbed the chance to attend. He writes that "the more time I spent at Mount Pleasant, the more I appreciated the fact that not just anyone can walk into a classroom and stand at the blackboard -- including me. ... In retrospect, I felt that the school district bureaucrat who had rejected me back in September wasn't wrong for thinking I was a little nuts."
A fellow teacher who frequently challenged him "had me nailed," Poizner writes. "I was a poser." Then there's his "difficult admission: I didn't control my students."
"Mount Pleasant" tells the story of one would-be politician's attempt to reconcile two worlds. _There's his daughter's private elementary school: "Ask someone to bring in snacks, and the next day there's a bowl of perfectly scooped melon balls in front of every kid."
Then there's the Mount Pleasant social science teachers' lounge: "Besides the broken copier and the wastebaskets that double as rain catchers, the lounge's walls were covered with yellowing news headlines, dusty books and snapshots curling with age. The lifeblood had been drained from the lounge's decor."
In the end, Poizner never does pull those worlds together, but he emerges "grateful that I have the ability and wherewithal to aim so high."
Carly Fiorina: GOP candidate for U.S. Senate.
Book: "Tough Choices."