Twenty years ago, the Minnesota Senator mobilized the forces of antiwar protest by daring to challenge President Lyndon Johnson. His candidacy then was an odd mixture of poetry and politics, of sardonic humor and philosophical discussion. McCarthy's latest race, on different tickets in different states, is more symbolic than serious, but he is still attempting to change the political system and is still full of irony and sarcasm. His new book, Required Reading, is a collection of his essays. He talked with TIME chief of correspondents John Stacks and New York bureau chief Bonnie Angelo.
Q. Why exactly are you running...