Kerry's White House bid fails to catch fire
Staff rivalry, duplication fuel critics who say drive lacks focus, discipline.
By Paul Farhi / Washington Post
Tim Hynds / Associated Press
Sen. John Kerry campaigned this week in Sioux City, Iowa. Some say he has not always been well-served by his multiple advisers and consultants in Boston and Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON -- Almost everything was set early last month for Sen. John Kerry's official announcement that he would seek the Democratic presidential nomination.
The late summer weather was hot but clear. The backdrop -- a Vietnam War era aircraft carrier, anchored off Charleston, S.C. -- was in place. The candidate was ready to go.
All that was lacking was the speech.
Kerry didn't like the tone of the announcement address co-written by his campaign manager, Jim Jordan, and communications director, Chris Lehane. Not bold enough, suggested the four-term senator from Massachusetts.
But instead of sending his aides back to the drawing board, Kerry had an alternative already in hand. Bob Shrum, another top adviser, had been working on his version of Kerry's speech at the same time as Jordan and Lehane.
The tale of the two speeches says much about the internal dynamics of Kerry's run for the nomination. Kerry is surrounded by an all-star team of political professionals, including Jordan and Shrum, a top consultant to Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign.
But it's also a campaign of uneasy factions and overlapping assignments. Kerry, for example, is advised by two pollsters, two media and advertising experts, and two speechwriting consultants. He also has two inner circles: one composed of hired hands in Washington; the other of old friends, family members and longtime loyalists in Boston.
This has made Kerry's operation the punch line of a joke in political circles: How is John Kerry's campaign like Noah's Ark? Both have two of everything.
Campaign lacks focus
The rivalry and duplication may help explain the persistent criticism of Kerry -- both from Democratic Party operatives and from the media -- that his campaign lacks focus, speed and discipline.
Kerry was the early front-runner for the Democratic nomination, but his campaign idled for much of the summer as former Vermont governor Howard Dean galvanized liberal Democrats with his opposition to the war in Iraq.
More recently, retired Gen. Wesley Clark entered the race with momentum, grabbing media attention and standing in the polls.
At critical moments, Kerry has seemed hesitant, cautious, even programmed. He has struggled to articulate why he is the centrist alternative to the surging Dean, and why, as an avowed antiwar candidate, he voted last year for a Senate resolution that paved the way for President Bush's plans to invade Iraq.
All of which has left Kerry -- the man whom fellow Bostonian and former Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis calls "the (candidate) the White House fears most" -- dogged by a question: Will his campaign ever catch fire?
People inside and outside the Kerry brain trust say Kerry himself ultimately bears the responsibility for his sometimes fuzzy message. But they suggest that he has not always been well-served by his multiple advisers and consultants in Boston and Washington.
Jordan, the campaign manager, acknowledges that "John has been on an upward learning curve. It sounds trite, but it's a matter of him finding his voice. ... The rhetorical habits you pick up in the Senate aren't always an asset out on the campaign trail."
In recent days, however, Jordan says Kerry "has been getting tighter, more disciplined and more focused."
Strategy needed
The overlapping nature of the Kerry campaign is not only unusual in a primary election race but potentially problematic for a candidate, says James Thurber, an American University political science professor who studies political consultants.
"In the heat of the campaign, when you're running and gunning every single day, managing all the advice you're getting can be a very distracting thing," he says. "It's desirable to have a central core of authority that can help (a candidate) shape a clear strategy, theme and message."
Two of the campaign's key figures, Jordan and Shrum, have had a prickly relationship that predates Kerry's current run. Several people say Jordan, who is in his maiden voyage as a presidential campaign manager, was unhappy with Shrum's hiring in February.
Shrum earned Kerry's loyalty with his handling of Kerry's come-from-behind Senate campaign against former Massachusetts governor William Weld in 1996.
But Shrum is suspect in some quarters of the party for his role in shaping Gore's losing presidential campaign three years ago. Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., voiced this sentiment at a Democratic debate in Columbia, S.C., in May.
Greeting Kerry before the debate, Hollings nodded at Shrum and asked jokingly, "John, do you want to win or do you want to lose?"
Since joining Kerry earlier this year, Shrum has played multiple roles. He is Kerry's principal speechwriter, his media consultant and what Jordan calls his "message guru." Jordan also notes that Shrum is "a personal friend of (Kerry) and his wife."
Internal tensions exist
Jordan, who formerly ran the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, a fund-raising group, says Kerry's chief advisers have a "collaborative, constructive and collegial" relationship. But he does not fully dismiss reports of internal tension. "I'm not saying that we agree on every issue," he says.
Several advisers say Kerry has talked intermittently about moving his campaign headquarters to Boston in an effort to streamline the campaign's bureaucracy.
Jordan, however, says that such a move is unlikely, but that the campaign has added another senior adviser, former New Hampshire governor Jeanne Shaheen.
Shaheen, who narrowly lost her race for the Senate last year, serves as a popular representative in a state critical to Kerry's chances of winning the nomination.
Kerry's staffers note that the first important tests, in Iowa and in New Hampshire, are still 3 1/2 months away.
Although most polls show Kerry bunched behind Clark and Dean in a tier that includes Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.) and Rep. Dick Gephardt (Missouri), they say he is still within reasonable striking distance of the lead in both states. In a recent CNN-ABC News poll, Kerry beat Bush in a theoretical head-to-head race.
Kerry has played underdog before, coming back several times to win races that appeared lost. "John is like Seabiscuit," says Dan Payne, a longtime Kerry media consultant who is not involved in the current campaign. "He runs better from behind." |
