THE BOYS AND BRAZILE
While Democrats in Washington doubt that Al Gore
can successfully run for president in 2004, he just may think he
can. Already, according to former staffers in Washington and
Tennessee, Gore is reaching out to former loyalists who will be
critical to any future political success. First up, apparently, is
former campaign manager Donna Brazile, who’s been
out and about, working at the Kennedy School at Harvard and the
University of Maryland. “If he’s going to do anything, he’ll need
her,” says a former adviser.
More so than perhaps Gore realizes. Much of Gore’s fundraising
team has already signed on with 2004 competitors John
Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards
of North Carolina. Gore is said to have sought Brazile out recently
during a trip to Washington, D.C. The former campaign manager is
known for her aggressive political tactics and her ability to run a
tight campaign.
Those who have spoken to Gore say he has been noncommittal about
even looking ahead to 2004. “But if he’s talking to people like
Brazile, he’s got to be thinking about the future and a run,” says
the former adviser. “Even two years out, he wouldn’t be wasting
their time if he wasn’t considering some thing.”
TWISTING STEEL
Look for President Bush to take the advice of free-traders Vice
President Dick Cheney and Treasury Secretary Paul
O’Neill as well as the advice of anti-free trade Republican
lobbyists in the pocket of American steel manufacturers and
announce by Wednesday that he plans to impose very specific and
targeted tariffs and quotas on imported steel products. While U.S.
steel manufacturers will get some tariff protections, these will be
from the far-reaching, tariff heavy deal they were hoping for. “His
decision isn’t going to make anyone happy,” says an economic policy
adviser. “But it should give him some political breathing room, and
give the U.S. steel industry a bit of breathing room. But the
message is clear: they have to get their act together.”
The steel issue was turning into a political hot potato for
Bush. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, for one,
was beating on Bush, claiming his decision could either save the
American steel manufacturers or destroy them. Bush is expected to
announce the trade decisions sometime before Wednesday evening, and
already the Democratic National Committee had TV ads ready to run
in Pennsylvania and Ohio. “We wanted to jump right on him if he
screwed with American steel,” says a DNC policy researcher. “We
were sure he’d bend completely to the Republicans lobbying for the
steel industry. Now we don’t know what to make of things.”
Some Republicans on the Hill were spreading rumors late last
week that O’Neill might resign over the White House steel decision.
Now that issue appears moot.
ON SUCH A WINTER’S DAY
In anticipation of today’s outcome in the California Republican
gubernatorial primary election, White House political advisers say
Karl Rove and other senior Republicans are
preparing a peace offering to Bill Simon Jr.,
whose upstart campaign to defeat White House-backed Richard
Riordan has shocked almost everyone watching the campaign.
Simon was down almost 20 points in L.A. Times polls in early
February. As of last Sunday, he was ahead of Riordan by as many as
ten points. “Rove never saw it coming,” says an RNC fundraiser.
“You can’t blame him for backing Riordan, the guy was the best man
to beat [California governor] Gray Davis. Simon’s
campaign is just shocking.”
Rove is said by the RNC insider to be prepared to meet with
Simon and throw the White House’s support behind the political
neophyte. “The White House is buying into the idea that if Simon
can beat Riordan and the White House, he could beat Davis with the
White House behind him,” says the RNC fundraiser.
But others who work with the RNC disagree. “Simon may knock off
Riordan, but he doesn’t have a prayer against Davis,” says a
California-based political consultant who has worked a number of
Republican campaigns, mostly in Southern California. “The White
House and the RNC have so savaged Simon both publicly and
privately, that I just can’t see how the two sides can make up
their differences. If I were Simon, I’d go it alone and tell the
White House to go to hell. It might help him in the long run.”
