Alexandra Pelosi's Diary of a Political Tourist will show one last time Thursday, Nov. 4 at 4 pm on HBO Signature East and 7 pm on HBO Signature West (and may eventually be out on DVD).

Pelosi followed Dean, Kerry, Edwards, and the other Democratic candidates for 18 months. The documentary gives you a sense of how crazy the primary process is.

Rep. Pelosi speaks with SF Examiner columnist PJ Corkery who wrote about the evening in his column.

And it gives some clues about Kerry's problems as a candidate. He is wary of Pelosi even though her mother is the Democratic minority leader of the House.
He resists an interview with her until the end of the film.

Journeys with George is a stronger documentary because it focuses on one person who actually enjoys interacting with Pelosi and the press. As Ted Koppel noted on Nightline last night, Kerry rarely went back on his plane to talk with repoters. She also had more access because she was covering Bush for NBC.

Anyone who is shocked by Bush's victory needs to watch Journeys (along with Bush's Brain and The Jesus Factor). Even if you don't agree with his politics, it shows his appeal and how he seduced the media in 2000.

Stephen Elliott and Joshua Bearman at a reading at City Lights in San Francisco after the third debate.

Novelist Stephen Elliott crossed paths with Pelosi while writing his book, Looking Forward to It. It also uses the diary format to tell the story of the Democratic primaries up through the convention.

He is able to go into more detail about both the political process and his life. There are sections labeled "digression" but often there are greater digressions within his regular entries. But I was caught up in his story.

He paints a picture of Kerry similar to Pelosi's though he ended up organizing literary benefits for MoveOn and Operation Ohio.

Former Dean internet organizer Zypher Teachout and Stephen Elliott. Teachout and Bearman are characters in his book (more photos)