How valuable is a signed copy of "Gettysburg," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's new novel, which imagines a victory by the South in the most famous battle of the Civil War?
As far as Louisianian James Carville is concerned, not much.
Yes, the Democratic strategist who introduced Bill Clinton to the world actually reviewed - and even praised - the Republican leader's best-selling novel as "creative, clever and fascinating."
But that's not to say there's a place for "Gettysburg" on Carville's bookshelf.
"Seeing your item about Newt Gingrich's book, 'Gettysburg,' prompted me to write about how we came across an interesting copy of that very book," Barb Hill of Fairfax, Va., writes to this column.
"Staying at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in July for a weekend conference, we ended up in a suite and, in perusing the books in the sitting area, found a copy of 'Gettysburg,'" she reveals.
"It was personally signed to James Carville from 'your friend, Newt,' thanking him for the 'blurb' printed on the dust cover," Hill continues. "I guess James Carville had stayed in that suite earlier and left the book!"
And what does Hill plan to do with her unique find?
"Right now, it is a great political souvenir," she says, "but, if either gentleman would like it back, contact us!"
CERTAIN IT'S BEEF?
Looking for a cheap hamburger?
"If you should find yourself hankering for a hamburger, may I respectfully suggest that you go to Beijing," says 2004 presidential hopeful Sen. Joe Lieberman. "That's where you'll find the world's cheapest hamburgers."
No, this isn't "Joe's" (that's what his campaign wants us to call him) latest campaign gimmick.
Rather, Lieberman has introduced Senate Bill 1592, to require negotiation and appropriate action with respect to certain countries that engage in currency manipulation.
As for the hamburger analogy, the senator borrowed a page from the Economist magazine, which for more than 15 years has compiled a "Big Mac" index to chart the relative values of national currencies.
As the Connecticut Democrat notes, the recipe for a McDonald's Big Mac is pretty much the same everywhere, and in a perfect world it would presumably cost about the same everywhere.
"But we find that instead of costing about the same, as one would expect, in Chinese yuan a Big Mac costs about 56 percent less than it would in the average American city," he says. "Such a bargain."