Presidential Candidate Books

Rare book collectors are speculating that Barack Obama's rise to power will go all the way to the White House. Signed first editions of Dreams From My Father, the Democrat's 1995 autobiography that actually went out-of-print at one time, have been sold for $1,798 and $1,299 respectively by AbeBooks.com in the past 12 months.

Current asking prices for signed first editions of Dreams From My Father reach up to $3,500 on AbeBooks.com.

How high could prices go for Obama's book? The sky's the limit if he becomes America's 44th president. Collectible copies of Dreams From My Father are already on par with Bill Clinton's My Life - AbeBooks.com sold a signed first edition of the former president's autobiography for $1,850 in 2006.

Asking prices for signed copies Obama's Audacity of Hope – published in 2006 and promoted through an extensive nationwide book tour – range from $330 to $1,050.

Just like at the ballot box, Obama has stiff competition from Hillary Clinton whose signed memoir Living History, has sold for as much as $700 on AbeBooks.  Clinton published the book in 2003 and it addresses her experience as first lady including the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky scandals.

In the book race, the favored Republican is former Arizona senator John McCain.  A signed first edition copy of Worth the Fighting, McCain’s newest book, was snapped up for $395 on the heels of his South Carolina win.  McCain’s earlier memoir, Faith of My Fathers, chronicles his father and grandfather's naval accomplishments as well as his own dramatic story of wartime imprisonment in a Vietnamese prison camp. Signed first editions of this remarkable book are being offered for up to $950.