The release of Clinton's autobiography "comes at an awkward time" for the former White House chief of staff, the Associated Press noted today. "Clinton lost North Carolina in the 1992 and '96 presidential elections and is seen as unpopular with the state's voters, particularly after the Monica Lewinsky scandal."

Elizabeth Dole beat Bowles in his previous bid for the Senate in 2000, and Republican Rep. Richard Burr hopes to beat him in November.

Doug Heye, a spokesman for Burr, said: "It's clear that Erskine Bowles is running away from his record as a close confidant to President Clinton. Whether it's on trade agreements he helped put in place or the war on tobacco, as he states in the book, Bill Clinton could not have gotten these things done without Erskine Bowles."

Cruel crank gift: Someone gave Bowles a copy of the book. But, like the vast majority of Americans, the former Clintonista hasn't read it. "You have no control over it," he said. "It's part of life."

Editor's note: