Mr. Bush is re-emerging to promote his memoir, to be published a week after the Nov. 2 elections.

While the timing suggests that the book will not provide fodder for midterm campaigns, Mr. Bush will return to the public eye just as the Republican Party looks ahead to asserting greater power in Congress and to choosing its 2012 presidential nominee, and as President Barack Obama accuses the GOP of wanting to take the country back to Bush-era programs that, the Democratic president says, “drove the car into the ditch.”…

Mr. Bush’s promotional efforts begin Nov. 8 with a one-hour, prime-time special on NBC hosted by Matt Lauer. Advisors to Mr. Bush say other media interviews and a book tour are in the works, possibly further opening him to questions from the media and the public.

Several close advisors to Mr. Bush said in interviews they hoped the book, along with the new museum and presidential center at Southern Methodist University, would begin to redefine the public’s view of a president who left office with approval ratings in the 30s.