"A breath of fresh air” is how viewers describe blogger, author and political analyst Keli Goff. Since emerging as one of the most popular political commentators of the 2008 election, Keli has appeared on more than 100 national and international news programs including: “The CBS Early Show,” CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” “The Joy Behar Show,” FOX News Channel’s “Fox and Friends,” and BET’s “The Truth with Jeff Johnson” for which she was a contributor. She currently appears regularly on MSNBC’s “The Dylan Ratigan Show” and also serves as a source for news outlets such as the New York Times and USA Today. She is the author of the new novel The GQ Candidate (Atria, July 2011) which was recently designated a recommended summer selection by The Los Angeles Times.

Keli Goff, a Contributing Editor for TheLoop21.com who regularly provides political analysis on the networks MSNBC, NPR, CNN and FOX. Her writing has also appeared in the publications TIME and Cosmopolitan, and is a weekly staple of the Huffington Post homepage.

Keli's first novel The GQ Candidate touches upon many of the issues Goff has become known for tackling in her writing, among them the role of racial and religious identity in American politics and the increasingly blurry lines between the public and private lives of political candidates and those closest to them—from their spouses and children, to friends—particularly in the age of social media. Goff’s passion for politics, penchant for creative storytelling, and sense of humor result in what actress, turned author Victoria Rowell describes as a “political page-turner” and a “must-read.”

 

The GQ Candidate
Click to order via Amazon

Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Atria Books (July 5, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 143915872X
ISBN-13: 978-1439158722
Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches

The front-runner in the next presidential election may just be a candidate you have never heard of.

There have been plenty of books written about presidential campaigns and plenty written
about presidential candidates, but surprisingly little has been written about the impact
presidential campaigns have on the closest friends of candidates, until now. In a tale that
has been described as part “Entourage,” part “The West Wing,” The GQ Candidate
(Atria, July 2011) tells the story of what happens to a close-knit group of friends when
one—a handsome, African-American governor with a multi-racial family—decides to run
for president. Recently designated a recommended summer selection by The Los Angeles
Times, The GQ Candidate has also earned advance praise from Arianna Huffington who
dubbed it “A witty novel that reminds us that all politics is personal.”

 

Party Crashing: How the Hip-Hop Generation Declared Political Independence
Click to order via Amazon

Paperback: 294 pages br /> Publisher: Basic Books (March 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 046500332X
ISBN-13: 978-0465003327
Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches

Read and AALBC.com Review

For the last forty years the label “black voter” has been virtually synonymous with “Democrat” but a new generation of voters is changing that. In her provocative new book Party Crashing, political commentator Keli Goff introduces America’s newest swing voter. Like soccer moms and Nascar dads before them, young, black voters born after the Civil Rights Movement are becoming increasingly up for grabs, politically speaking. While the politics of their parents and grandparents were shaped by the Civil Rights Movement, Goff notes that the politics of her peers, members of the post-Civil Rights generation, have been shaped by a number of cultural influencers that transcend race; from “The Cosby Show,” to icons such as Oprah Winfrey, and the tragedy of 9/11.

Civil rights has long been the defining political issue for black Americans but for this emerging generation of black voters, civil rights is now one issue among many that define their politics. As a result, they are challenging the idea that one’s skin color should color one’s political identity, and they are also challenging the idea that they should be Democrats. Since the support of black Americans has been crucial to the success of democratic candidates-from Presidents Kennedy to Clinton-this shift could be one of the most important developments in modern politics, arguably as important as the Civil Rights movement itself. Along with the political shift occurring, Goff also examines the cultural shift that is taking place on a wide range of issues including: gay marriage, hip-hop, and the emergence of what Goff calls “Generation Obama.” Through in-depth interviews with young, black voters, groundbreaking survey research, and conversations with a range of high profile Americans-from Colin Powell to Russell Simmons-Party Crashing explores the issues and people who have helped shape the politics of the post-Civil Rights Generation, and how this generation is reshaping America.

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