Kitty Kelley's Other Victim

By DAVID ELLIS

Veteran political reporter Lou Cannon has earned glowing reviews for President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime, a 948-page opus that charts its subject's ! political journey from Sacramento to Washington. So why haven't you heard more about it? That's simple: the book was released barely a week before Kitty Kelley's hit-and-run job on Nancy Reagan. Cannon is upset that Simon & Schuster, publisher of both biographies, didn't live up to a verbal agreement to keep the release of the Kelley book separate from his own tome. After numerous leaks about the Kelley book's contents, the company moved up its publication date from May to early April without informing Cannon, he claims. Although President Reagan has landed on some best-seller lists, Cannon has hired a lawyer to explore possible legal action. That move may prompt the publisher to promote the book more aggressively.

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart