Shrum, who has toiled for just about every major Democratic figure in the past 25 years, has ties to several of the 2004 presidential hopefuls. He worked for Rep. Dick Gephardt’s 1988 presidential run, for Kerry’s Senate race in 1996 and Edwards’ ‘98 Senate run. Most recently he was Al Gore’s main media guy in 2000, after serving as one of Bill Clinton’s consiglieri during impeachment.
Shrum and Kerry have been mum about a deal — Kerry, after spending the weekend at home in Washington meeting with select delegates attending the DNC’s winter meeting, is now in California working on a tan and fundraising — but Edwards campaign staffers were more than willing to leak word of the new partnership to reporters.
“We weren’t willing to give Bob the kind of control he wanted over the message and the direction of the campaign,” says an Edwards source. “No properly run campaign would give any one man that kind of control.”
Translation: Shrum had a choice, didn’t like the looks of the Edwards campaign, went with the team he felt comfortable with, and Edwards staffers are badmouthing him.
That would appear to be so, since he has signed on to a Kerry campaign apparatus that already has several highly paid and highly thought of media consultants on board for the long haul. Clearly Shrum wasn’t looking for full control as much as he was looking for a good horse to ride to the finish line and a role he would feel comfortable in.
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?