as some of you know, my name is andrei cherny formerly the chair of the democratic party.[applause] not everywhere can you say that in arizona and get applause. [laughter] they are what we call the base. [laughter] but thank you for that. the founder and ceo of aspiration.com. we are excited to have this group of authors with us today for a conversation about politics in the age of obama and a lot to talk about the solidity just before we dive in i have a few thank you's first to cox communications for sponsoring this venue and holly and steve who have sponsored this session as you all know we are going to go for about 55 minutes. ..

as some of you know, my name is andrei cherny formerly of the democratic party. [applause] dot everybody can say that in arizona and get applause. but the book readers are what we call the base. [laughter] dot thank you for that. currently the ceo of aspiration.com. .. >> who are freezing can admire your shorts and t-shirts and silently curse you. speaking of the tucson festival of books, we have bill minor here today, one of the visionaries. give him a round of applause. very much a volunteer-driven effort a group of people bill and many others who made a big impact on the community. if you want to be part of that, i hope you will consider becoming a friend of the festival. a tax deductible donation that impacts this event and were moting around the country. let me introduce the panel. david maraniss author of many books, he was won several wards prince of tennessee about al gore books about sports in the 1960s, and other political books as well. so please welcome him. [applause] >> if you are political aware and not living under a rock you know about mark levit