Richard Waterman is a professor of political science at the University of Kentucky. An award winning author, he has published a number of books and scholarly articles on the presidency. He also has published widely in the areas of congressional elections, judicial decision making, bureaucratic politics and environmental policy. He also is the author of the novel, The Oracle: The Succession War, a science fiction/fantasy novel that takes the main elements of a presidential election and transforms it into the context of a medieval succession war.