The Man Who Would Be President: Dan Quayle

Readers will find little here to change perception of Vice President J. Danforth Quayle as a lightweight with a short attention span, a confused sense of history and lacking in ``the vision thing.'' In a reprint of a controversial seven-part series that appeared in the Washington Post , journalists Woodward and Broder describe Quayle's 1976 entry into politics, his contributions as a senator, his aggressive campaign to be picked by George Bush as his 1988 running mate, his ordeal-by-ridicule throughout that campaign and his accomplishments as vice-president. There's an entire chapter on Quayle's golf obsession (``I can't get enough of it!'') in which the authors aver that the game is a major part of his life, essential to his psychic balance and a key to understanding him. We're shown that another key is his formidable wife Marilyn, and Woodward and Broder do a fine job describing her role in her husband's career. She comes off as having more substance than he. And she is more interesting to read about in this short but informative book. Photos. (May)