The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

(Page 2 of 2)

But Edwards has also been stopping along the way to give his traveling press corps seemingly "casual" photo-ops.

While speeding through Arkansas, Edwards and company stopped in Devalls Bluff at a local eatery, Craig's BBQ. Upon entering the eatery to glad-hand, Edwards discovered that there was not a single customer inside. So an advance person dashed out and pulled every reporter and staffer on the trip into the restaurant so that the small diner would appear to be packed with people.

"The reporters with us don't seem to care how we do it," says a former Edwards advance staffer now based in Washington. "The dirty secret is that many of these guys are willing to help us get the photos and stories out that we want."

p> CARD SHARK br> Foreign policy advisers in Washington and senior campaign staff on the road with Sen. John Kerry went nuts on Wednesday afternoon as they watched their candidate, while talking about his Iraq strategy, announce on live television, that "I have heavy cards to play -- I'm not going to lay them all out on the table -- no future president or no president should ever negotiate this in public. But let me tell you, I've got big cards to play to bring people to understand the stakes here." /p>

"As soon as he said that, people were getting calls on their cell phones," says a Kerry advance staffer, who had helped get many of the CEOs involved in the economic summit in Davenport, Iowa, where Kerry made his remarks. "Everyone understood he'd made a huge mistake."

There has always been a concern among advisers that candidate Kerry believes he's smarter than many of them, and looks down on being prepped before public events. Staffers had thought they had turned a corner with Kerry when he allowed himself to be fully programmed for his appearance at the Democratic Convention.

p>"But then he pulls a boner like this. What the hell cards does he have?" asks an adviser in Washington. "The candidate has been told time and again not to engage in that kind of semi-detailed discussion. But he just ignores the advice and digs another hole we have to pull him out of. At some point, we aren't going to be able to do it." br> /p>

topics:
Foreign Policy, Television, Hollywood, Iraq