The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

p> SUMMIT FEVER br> In a "surprise" drop by -- which, judging by the press-ready crew of interns who were waiting to greet him outside, was no surprise at all -- presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry showed up at DNC headquarters for a private meeting late Thursday with DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe and Kerry's shadow DNC chairman John Sasso . /p>

As casual as it may have been made to appear, the meeting was anything but. McAuliffe and Sasso have been warring almost constantly about the overall Democratic election-year strategy, as well as finance issues for the presidential campaign and the coordination of message for said campaign with the many Democratic interest groups with potfuls of cash to spend in 2004.

Kerry asked for the meeting after calls from Sasso complaining about McAuliffe. McAuliffe for his part has been a gentleman about it, keeping quiet and trying not to let Sasso's presence at the DNC upset staff to the current leadership.

"McAuliffe is hanging tough. He doesn't want to be figurehead. He thinks he knows what's best for the party," says a senior DNC staffer. "Let's face it, what does Sasso have to show for his years of experience. The Dukakis campaign? I'll take McAuliffe's Clinton record over Sasso's Massachusetts miracles."

The makeshift rally at the DNC Capitol Hill offices were planned as a short newsmaker for a Kerry campaign that has found itself reined in by the death of President Ronald Reagan. "We needed to keep Kerry in the news and show him active, not out of sight," says a Kerry adviser. "I guess you could view it as a slap at Reagan and the Republicans, but 24 hours from now it won't matter. We'll all be back in campaign mode."

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