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Edited on Thu Apr-29-04 01:25 AM by Gman
with the possible exception of Clinton in '92, invariably and without fail, every Democratic presidential campaign ends up with a core of people that think they are the coolest, hottest shit that ever came down the pike. They become literally intoxicated with the very idea of having a position and a title in a campaign. They have already rewritten and updated their resumes with their new position. They are in the deepest places in the campaign and they are on the road as advance people.
It gets even worse after the convention. These little shits come into town and immediately start telling everyone what to do and how to do it and when and when not to do it. They act like they, for some unknown reason to us, have all the authority and power in the world because THEY ARE the advance people and we're supposed to step and fetch it as quickly and efficiently as possible.
If you don't know about this attitude you will fall under their influence and end up doing things that you know are not good for your county or city. But they do the very same thing in each place they go. Rest assured they will have the same attitude 48 hours later when they are meeting with the people at the next stop.
But, underneath all this is a group of people that are so far removed from reality they haven't smelled fresh air in months. These are the people responsible for giving Kerry the good responses. These are the people responsible for anticipating responses. These are the people responsible for asking the right questions of the focus groups and correctly interpreting the answers, REGARDLESS of what they think the answers should be because they have this position in the campaign. (This is why consultants are so much better to have to develop strategy than people close to the candidate.)
So, just remember that 1) Its ok to tell the advance people to go f**k theirselves because they need you a whole lot more than you need them. If you cop an attitude with them at first they will push back, call the office and say you're people are not cooperating. Someone in the office will chew them out for pissing you off and within hours they will come back with a better attitude. Remember, they want to get Kerry elected because they just might end up with a great job in January so they will end up kissing your butt before its all over. They don't know your county like you do and 2) You tell them what works in your area and 3) Hope like hell that these people intoxicated with their positions in the campaign will do the right thing for the candidate because that's right response, or thing to do for solid reasons rather than because they have a title and position in the campaign and their hot shit.
Gore's campaign in 2000 was infected and infested with these people. It was obvious we were in for a "here we go again" when Gore claimed credit for inventing the Internet. If you remember, it wasn't too long after that, maybe 3 or 4 months, that Gore moved his campaign to Nashville from DC. Even Gore knew he was getting bad advice. In general, and there are notable exceptions, the people in these campaigns are NOT ideologically driven. If anything, they are political mercenaries. I have met people in presidential campaigns that have worked for both democrats and republicans. They DO NOT share the same ideological values that we do. More often than not they answered a help wanted ad on a job board for their particular skills and they have a job rather than they are driven by a desire for social justice and rights for all.
I don't know a soul working inside the Kerry campaign but I don't have to because I've met them all over the years. In spite of them, we've been able to win elections and I'd like to think we'll win again this year.
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