DAVID LIMBAUGH: ABSOLUTE WHIRLWIND

Between authorhood and fatherhood, David Limbaugh hasn't seen much of his office lately. Since his first book, "Absolute Power," debuted two months ago, the Cape Gir-ardeau attorney and syndicated columnist has traveled to New York, Washington, D.C., and St. Louis to appear on most of the major news talk shows. Surprisingly to him, marketing the book has been a full-time job.

Fatherhood intervened on Friday when Limbaugh's wife, Lisa, gave birth to the couple's first son, Scott Armstrong Limbaugh, who was given David's middle name and the maiden name of David's late mother, Millie.

Scott and sisters Christen, Courtney and Caitlyn are the children of a man who very quickly has become a best-selling author and media celebrity of the moment. Limbaugh, brother of conservative radio star Rush Limbaugh, figures to know something about handling fame.

"Absolute Power" has spent seven weeks on the New York Times best-seller list, reaching as high as No. 2, an extraordinary showing for a political book. The book currently is No. 3 and will drop to No. 7 on next week's list. Some 150,000 copies of the book have been printed so far.

Unquenched justice'

Limbaugh acknowledges that his brother's popularity has helped but says the book has sold well for another reason. "There's a sense of unquenched justice, that Clinton never was brought to account, that the full truth never has been reported."

He will discuss his book and sign copies beginning at 7 tonight at Barnes & Noble. The event will be his only local book-signing.

"Absolute Power" is an indictment of the U.S. Department of Justice under the presidency of Bill Clinton and former Attorney General Janet Reno. In cases built as if for litigation, the book maintains that Waco, the Clinton administration's legal crusade against Big Tobacco, the campaign finance scandal and others constitute a licentious use the justice department "as a private law firm for Bill Clinton," Limbaugh says.

"I was troubled by the way the justice department colluded with Clinton to undermine the rule of law."

This point of view has been fodder for such TV talk shows as FOX's "Hannity and Colmes," "The O'Reilly Factor," "The Edge with Paula Zahn" and the CNN show hosted by Wolf Blitzer. "The 700 Club," a Christian TV show, and former Moral Majority leader the Rev. Jerry Falwell also wanted to talk about his book.

Biased media

Limbaugh has been interviewed on conservative radio talk shows hosted by Neil Boortz, Michael Reagan, G. Gordon Liddy and Shaun Hannity, along with mainstream NBC's Brian Williams and the liberal Alan Colmes.

FOX is the only television network that doesn't have a liberal bias, Limbaugh maintains. He felt MSNBC set him up by using a story about Timothy McVeigh's murderous reaction to Waco to lead into a discussion of "Absolute Power," which also is highly critical of the government's handling of the tragic standoff. "I thought they were trying to make an association between people like me and McVeigh," he said. "They juxtaposed me with a radical, violent conservative. I reject any kind of association.

"I denounce what McVeigh did as strenuously as anybody in the world. McVeigh was not a conservative. He is a nut."

Most of the interviews are merely conversations, though a few times he has been put in the position of debating a liberal commentator. He's not afraid to debate but he reminds himself that he is promoting a book. "You certainly don't want to set yourself to get torpedoed," he says.

Though he hears the Wall Street Journal is readying a review, newspapers thus far have ignored his book. "The mainstream media do not review books like this," he says.

Limbaugh's syndicated column now appears in 10 newspapers, including the Southeast Missourian, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Washington Times, and on 10 Internet sites. He hopes the book promotion creates a synergy that leads to more syndication.

Most of his research was conducted through NEXIS, a worldwide database of publications. Limbaugh enjoyed researching and writing of the book but is less fond of the marketing necessary to promote it.

He can't imagine ever hosting a talk show like his brother because he doesn't want to leave Cape Girardeau. But he wouldn't mind being a pundit called on to comment on broadcasts just as he does in his column. Unfortunately, Cape Girardeau has no satellite link so that means a trip to St. Louis just for a seven-minute segment.

Paperback publication of "Absolute Power" and another book, topic uncertain, are in Limbaugh's future along with lots of diapers.