"We're looking forward to next week," said Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards. [Reuters] So is Bill, I'm sure: he's back in campaign mode.

And, extending the Clinton media blitz into film, The Hunting of the President has been turned into a documentary:

The 90-minute documentary re-creates interviews conducted for the best-selling book of the same name by Joe Conason and Gene Lyons. Rough versions have already played at four film festivals.

The first public showing, at $50 a ticket - with the proceeds going to a couple of Arkansas-based charities - drew a large crowd to a ballroom at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, a short walk from where Clinton celebrated his two presidential election victories. It is also next door to the Peabody Hotel, formerly the Excelsior, where Clinton accuser Paula Jones said he harassed her when he was governor.

Attendees included Susan McDougal, who went to jail rather than cooperate with Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr; retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who sought the Democratic Party's presidential nomination this year; and former Arkansas Sen. David Pryor.

During the film's showing, appearances by Starr on the screen drew boos and hisses from the crowd, while Jones' image produced laughter.

Afterward, McDougal, who plays a large part in the film, got a standing ovation when she was called to the stage.

....Producer Harry Thomason, one of Clinton's good friends, said Tuesday that he read the book in 2001 and thought it would make a good movie, but he had a hard time digging up money to produce it.

"I thought this is a good yarn - there are villains, there are good guys," Thomason said. "But every place I went to finance the movie, nobody wanted to touch it. They said, 'It's been eight years, there's a new president, nobody wants to hear anything about (the Clinton) administration."

....The film purports to uncover a right-wing manipulation of the media, which Thomason says began with President Nixon's call to counter liberal messages in the 1970s.

Oscar-nominated actor Morgan Freeman is the film's narrator. [AP]

Sounds like after a period of laying low - which allowed Hilary to establish herself as politician, personality and author - the time has come for a concerted effort to rebuild the former president's reputation. Will this interfere with Kerry's campaign? I'll let you know in November.