For months, the Kerry campaign had been split between two competing camps. Kerry was getting advice out of both ears, and probably accounted for the lack of clarity from his early campaigning months. It wasn't that Kerry didn't have a good message, he had too many of them. What ended up sticking out was an over-reliance on his Vietnam credentials and a false sense of inevitability.
Between the two camps were the professional Washington advisors - including some of the top names in the business - and the Boston people that had been with Kerry for his entire political life. I don't think it's a big surprise which camp I thought was better for Kerry. Fortunately, they won - perhaps because of the special credibility that Kerry seems to give to Jeanne Shaheen (who supported a shake-up).
For better or worse, Kerry has finally answered the age old decision to crap or get off the pot. That's about as far as I'm going to go with that metaphor. Judging by his personal performances, which have been getting stronger and sharper with each week, I can only hope that the Boston people get that message out more effectively.
I believe that Kerry does much better under intense pressure, far more than if he were cautiously nursing a lead. I'd certainly prefer that he were blowing the rest of the pack out of the water, but I'm comfortable where he is - psychologically. I think you can see him getting into gladiator mode, and I think it's going to be one hell of a ride. If he doesn't make it, it won't because he didn't go out swinging.
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The NYTimes gives a quick background of the tensions that had been simmering within the campaign, and you can understand why Jordan's dismissal is ultimately a relief.
At one point, the infighting in the Kerry campaign became so intense that rival camps — one based in Washington and one in Boston — prepared different versions of the senator's official announcement speech. That dispute marred Mr. Kerry's announcement tour and led one aide involved in the battle, Chris Lehane, to quit, later joining the campaign of Wesley K. Clark, the retired general.
Mr. Shrum, Mr. Jordan and Mr. Lehane were at the center of a dispute in September that brought to the surface the feuds that have shaken the Kerry campaign and produced what even Kerry advisers said were conflicting signals.
The dispute focused on Mr. Kerry's announcement speech and pitted Mr. Jordan and Mr. Lehane, then serving as communications director, against Mr. Shrum and members of Mr. Kerry's Boston-based circle of family and advisers, campaign workers say.
The new campaign manager, Ms. Cahill, is close to Bob Shrum, a Washington consultant and speechwriter who had been battling with Mr. Jordan for influence in Mr. Kerry's campaign.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/11/politics/11KERR.html?pagewanted=2Which brings me to Bob Shrum:
The 1996 Senate campaign between John Kerry and William Weld was the rarest of events in latter-day American politics: a civil, closely contested, intelligent, and wildly entertaining brawl. "Both candidates were incredibly popular," the Kerry consultant John Marttila said. "Both had sixty-per-cent favorable ratings, and negatives in the twenties. And they maintained their popularity throughout the race."
"We were pummelling him through August, said Weld, "But his campaign turned on a dime when Bob Shrum was hired as his consultant. It went from flaccid to sharp in a week."
Kerry's aides insist that it was more than Shrum. They say that Kerry was distracted in Washington, that he didn't really focus on the campaign until the Senate recessed. "It wasn't a lack of focus," Kerry says. "It was a strategy. I figured people wouldn't really be paying attention until the fall debates."
The last four debates were fabulous political theatre-two very smart men having at each other. "John's at his best under pressure, when he's being seriously challenged," Paul Nace, an old Navy friend, says. "He gets really cool, very calm. He really is a warrior-he just loves it. I took one look at him as he was walking into Faneuil Hall for one of the last debates and I thought, Bill Weld has no idea what's about to hit him."
Kerry won the election by eight percentage points. "John has always been underestimated politically," Marttila says. "But that race had the quality and intensity of a Presidential campaign, and he won. I don't see how they can underestimate him anymore, but they probably will."
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