I have an acquaintance from the South, who claims to be “torn” about this election. What web pages/videos/books could I recommend to her to steer her toward my favorite Sam Malone lookalike and away from the neocon sleazemonger?

The material should be respectful toward my intended reader (no square-bashing insults, no cuss words, no drawn-on Hitler mustaches).

My target-audience-of-one is a true believer in southern “ways.” She drinks and smokes in public, swears in private, and has had nonmarital sex. But she still believes in going to church and wearing fancy clothes and minding the social graces and mailing “sympathy cards” and crying about dead house pets and cooking from scratch.

She’d been a Bush loyalist, in my interpretation, because Bush’s carefully-contrived public image appeals to her sense of how a leader (and a leader’s family) should look and behave; and also because she believes in remaining loyal to one’s father figures, especially in times of crisis.

I, as you may suspect, believe the Bush crew created two-thirds of our crises, and has deliberately promoted a sense of fear and helplessness in order to manipulate the feelings of voters such as my friend. I wish to show her that the candidate who tries the hardest to appeal to one’s own demographic market segment is not necessarily the best candidate for the job of President.

I may slip her my review copy of Sen. Robert Byrd’s book Losing America.

A reader has recommended Richard Clarke’s Against All Enemies, the expose of how the post-9/11 war on terror got botched and sidetracked.

Another suggested James Fallows’s Atlantic Monthly essay (available online only to print subscribers) on Bush’s decision to go after Iraq instead of the real threats.

Other loyal readers have recommended online essays by an ex-Marine for Kerry, and by John Eisenhower.

Email your own suggestions as soon as feasible. Thanx in advance.