News-Record.com

N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Doug McCullough's re-election campaign looks like a book tour.

He's promoting "Sea of Greed, the True Story of America's Biggest Drug Raid," his account (with co-author Les Pendleton), of a case he prosecuted as an assistant U.S. attorney in the 1980s.

From the Web site:

"When the Coast Guard hailed a Gulf Coast shrimp trawler near Cape Lookout, NC on the 4th of July weekend, 1982, the routine stop set in motion a chain-of-events that ended with the U.S. invasion of Panama, overthrow of dictator Manuel Noriega, and one of the biggest drug busts in America’s history.

"Now more than 25 years later, the full story is revealed in a gripping true-life account by the man who brought the drug lord to justice.

"J. Douglas McCullough, the U.S. attorney who unraveled the Cayman Island cartel, reveals never-before-known facts of the case that began on the docks of the historic fishing village of Beaufort, NC when authorities found a shrimp boat full of marijuana."

You can read an excerpt here at metronc.com

Judges generally find it hard to attract voters' attention. They don't have televised debates, buy much advertising or hold big campaign rallies. But McCullough has put a few book signings and presentations on his schedule. His book has drawn a bit of press coverage, like this.

I can't say a thing about the literary merits of "Sea of Greed," but I can see its potential value to McCullough's campaign. I'd say he's taken a novel approach to running ... except his book isn't fiction.