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player ready...by David Lightman
Bob Shrum, the Democratic uber-insider with a history of advising losing White House campaigns, offered his advice for winning the White House today.
He spoke to a group of about 25 reporters at a breakfast, offering these suggestions and insights:
–New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is “stuck in a very tight message box. She needs to step out of it and show she’s authentic and spontaneous.”
–2004 vice presidential candidate John Edwards is “in the Dick Gephardt trap and catbird seat” because Edwards’ campaign “is basically a one-state strategy.” Win Iowa, as Gephardt hoped to do in 2004, and he’s off like a comet. But lose Iowa and it’s probably over.–Illinois Sen. Barack Obama benefits from the desire for change. It’s a big question,said Shrum, whether people will go for Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton.
–Forget the other Democrats. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s recent performance on “Meet the Press,’ where, among other things he seemed to be both a New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox fan, hurt, Shrum said. Delaware Sen. Joe Biden “has been surprising in both debates,” but seems to have trouble raising money, while Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd “is raising some money, but he’s got to have a rationale for running.”
And, said Shrum, “that rationale can’t just be that ‘I’ve served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 25 years.”’
The veteran consultant, who was a top strategist for 2004 nominee John F. Kerry and has helped a string of Democratic hopefuls beginning with George McGovern in 1972, is on the sidelines this time. Instead, he’s peddling his book,. “No Excuses.”
He didn’t dwell a lot on the past. In 2000, Shrum said today, Vice President Al Gore seemed most comfortable using his “people versus the powerful” theme, but didn’t use it enough. And Kerry was felled by, among other things, Osama bin Laden, whose end-of-the-campaign tape gave bush a boost.
Perhaps, then, Shrum’s advice to today’s candidates, or at least their consultants, has some irony: “You can’t invent the candidate,” he said. “You’ve got to be willing to make mistakes.”
And you need to be able to have someone close to you who can tell you the bad news. And then listen to you.