The Associated Press

LEXINGTON - Can't find that popular political tome on local bookshelves?

It's not a liberal or conservative conspiracy. More likely it is a case, booksellers and librarians say, of keeping shelves current while not overstocking a book with a short shelf life.

Bookstores and libraries always have to do a balancing act when it comes to political books, making sure that readers of all political persuasions can find what they want to read, according to Mike Allen, a buyer for Cincinnati-based Joseph-Beth Booksellers and Judith Olson, manager of the local library's Tates Creek branch in Lexington.

That seems to be an even greater challenge this year.

"It seems like almost every week there's two or three new (political) books," he said.

Olson and Allen said that when certain books are given a lot of attention in the media, they can count on getting a lot of requests.

"When people hear about these books on radio and TV, that's when we get the reaction," Olson said.

People, in general, tend to read political books that solidify the beliefs they already have, Allen said.

Olson said that often a political book is popular for a very short period, "and then we are stuck with many copies of the book."

That's one of the reasons readers won't find the book Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry on Joseph-Beth Booksellers' best-sellers list or at the library.

"We actually got 100 in earlier this week and we had 100 reserved, so they never hit the floor," Allen said, noting the store expects more copies this week.

Unfit for Command, by Vietnam veteran John E. O'Neill and Jerome R. Corsi, is not the only political book that's hot these days.

Last week, there were 26 people on a waiting list for Bushworld, by New York Times political columnist Maureen Dowd, which is on order for the library, Olson said. There were 182 people waiting to check out 46 copies of former President Bill Clinton's My Life.

"I had this one man who came in and wanted to put a reserve in on the Clinton book, and he said he was exhausted trying to keep up with all of the political books that were coming out," Olson said.