Reply #89: That wouldn't be a bad guess,

[liberalhistorian]

except that Poppy really wasn't as "in" with the Nixonites as some of the other possibilities, and he wasn't all that crazy about Wallace, either. My guesses would be Pat Buchanan, Chuck Colson or G. Gordon Liddy. Buchanan and Colson were heavily involved in the Nixon WH, especially Buchanan, as a speechwriter. If I'm not mistaken, one of Liddy's sons does, indeed, work in a "nonpolitical" governmental position and if anyone is in the position to know about repub vengeance tactics it would be Liddy.

I narrow it down, however, as more likely being Colson or Liddy. Buchanan hasn't hesitated to speak out against repubs and their policies, he's hardly "biting his tongue." I know that Dean didn't care all that much for Liddy, calling him "crazy" in "Blind Ambition", after serving some prison time with him. And I do know that Dean became friends with Colson when they were both serving prison time together, and that friendship has continued throughout the years. So, my guess is that it's Colson.