Obama Biography Showdown: Ed Klein Outsells David Maraniss by a 7-1 Margin

Slate reports:

In May, Regnery released Ed Klein's second book about Barack Obama. His first attempt, The Obama Identity, was a snarky novel about the president. The Amateur was filed in the non-fiction section, because it took Klein to "six cities, either in person or over the phone," and claimed at least two big scoops. The first, an anecdote about Bill Clinton passionately declaring Obama a naif, was anonymously sourced. The second, Jeremiah Wright's accusation that he was offered (and didn't take) a bribe to shut up, was sourced to Wright himself. But neither story made waves outside of conservative media. One month later, Simon & Schuster released David Maraniss's years-in-the-making biography Barack Obama: The Story. Maraniss had been writing deep biographical studies of the president since before he won the election. He cracked sources who'd never before talked about the president -- ex-girlfriends, pot-smoking buddies, roommates. His reporting was so thorough that he could name the other shops on the street where Obama's maternal great-grandfather worked.

No word yet on whether Court stenographer David Maraniss has heard of the Socialist Scholars Conferences Obama attended. Is it racist to bring that up?