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The current U.S. presidential election threesome between Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain has raised many topics, from Iraq to immigration to the very notion of change. But the state of the sexual union in the United States has remained unaddressed, even as issues of teenage pregnancy, abortion and sexual health remain in the forefront of American minds.

A new book, Sex for America: Politically Inspired Erotica, which includes writing by Anthony Swofford, Rick Moody and James Frey, takes a fictional look at the politics of personal intimacy, from an imagined homosexual encounter with Dick Cheney to the sadness of being in a same-sex relationship as political leaders denounce the union as unnatural. The Globe and Mail spoke with the book's editor, Stephen Elliott, about the intersection of sex, politics and literature, and why so many people pick up on the campaign trail.

Why put together a collection of political erotica?

It's the intersection of the two things I write about. My book Happy Baby was about someone who could only derive pleasure from pain; but in 2004 I wrote a non-fiction account of the presidential election, as I travelled around on campaign buses for an entire year. Before that I had edited two anthologies of political fiction. Sex and politics intersect all the time, quite dramatically.

What are those intersections?

When people don't participate in the dialogue about sex on a national level then we get into situations like we have now, where there's an obscenity squad on the FBI dedicated to prosecuting obscenity laws, which are totally vague. They might catch some predators but they also shut down educational [websites]. When you liberalize how people think about sex, you don't waste money on things like that and you don't live in this shame-based culture. When you demystify sex it might be less fun, but politically it's good for everybody.

How do you think that shame-based attitude toward sex evolved in the United States?

There's this real kind of regressive population that thrives on judgment and anger and are deeply interested in telling people what they can and can't do with their bodies. But you also have a reaction to that. People are saying, hey, this is not making the country a better place. These abstinence education plans aren't working, and people are seeing that.

One story suggests that Dick Cheney was in love with Harry Wittington, the man he accidentally shot in the face, and another centres on an affair between a Democratic staffer and the wife of a Republican senator. Sexual hypocrisy seems to be a major theme.

The same people who are so anti-sex and are always legislating what we can do in the bedroom - it's not like these people aren't sexual. Sex is still a driving motivation. Look at Mark Foley. ... People act out when they're in the closet. Any time you have a group advocating against sexual freedom, you're staring into the face of hypocrisy. Because we're all sexual.

There also seems to be a lot of sadness in the book.

I know for me, immediately following the 2004 election I sank into a depression. At the time I really had a hard time coming out of it. For a while I stopped believing in my country. We'll all be happier if we're more open about sex. Sex drives everything, the drive for power, the drive to make the world a better place. It's probably the most relevant topic there is.

Are you planning to do another anthology with some Obama erotica?

It could happen. I was there in 2004 when Obama gave that speech at the Democratic National Convention. I was 10 feet away on the floor and that was the most erotic moment of that election season. And when [his wife] Michelle came out to give him a hug she was all over him and so clearly turned on by that speech. She had been turned on by her husband's passion for change. It was beautiful.

Can you really be turned on by someone's politics?

There's always a lot of sex on the campaign trail. People call it "mactivism." Not the journalists - they don't have any sex. The staffers have tons of sex because they're so full of belief, it's very sexy when people really believe in things. Marriages are breaking up all over the place during election season. If you're a guy and you're lonely, there is no better way to meet someone than volunteering for a political campaign. You will get tons and tons of action.