WaPo column on new hire for Team Kerry

[TayTay]

John Kerry's (New) Political Guru
Chris Cillizza, May 22, 2006

Since losing the 2004 presidential election, John Kerry has largely kept intact the political team that guided him in that race. But a new face has emerged as an influential strategist in Kerry's universe -- Ed Reilly, a polling and communications specialist with deep experience working for Democratic candidates in national campaigns.

The addition of Reilly to Kerry's political cabinet is yet another sign that the 2004 presidential nominee is seriously weighing another run in 2008. Kerry has used his Keeping America's Promise PAC to dole out campaign contributions to candidates and party committees across the country, and he has emerged as one of his party's leading voices on the need for an American withdrawal from Iraq.

MORE at:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2006/05/john_kerrys_new_political_guru.html

[ProSense]

1. Very cool!

New perspective and broad experience, and no Shrum. I like it!

[ginnyinWI]

21. yes! no more Shrum.

One consultant who will not be back if Kerry runs again is Bob Shrum, who served as the lead strategist during the '04 race. Shrum says he has retired from American politics and currently serves as a senior fellow at New York University's Wagner School of Public Service.

And, I might venture to add--no more Clintonistas. They'll be in Hillary's camp, out of harm's way!

[blm]

2. interesting.... but... he still needs

ME!!!!!!!!!

[_dynamicdems]

3. He's hiring Irish lately! Smart man.

Irish know how to win. It comes from centuries of losing! ;)

Irish are tough and never say never.

[fedupinBushcountry]

4. Some more bio

Ed Reilly - CEO, Westhill Partners

Ed Reilly is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Westhill Partners and a nationally recognized communications strategist and business consultant. During the past two decades of advising senior corporate leaders, Mr. Reilly has built a reputation for pioneering innovative communications programs and services that have advanced the business objectives of his clients across a spectrum of industries.

Mr. Reilly is highly regarded for his work with industries and companies facing rapidly changing market circumstances or intense competition. Frequently these communications challenges occur during a crisis, merger, restructuring or a significant change in regulatory policy. As such, Mr. Reilly has led consulting assignments for companies in the electric utility, telecommunications, health care, financial services, and transportation sectors.

Mr. Reilly conceived the proprietary technology solutions that Westhill offers to its' clients. The Westhill C/3 Platform provides technology solutions as a means of enhancing the productivity of corporate communications functions and enhancing the working relationship between client companies and their consulting teams.

Since 1977, Mr. Reilly has worked as a campaign strategist with Democratic political candidates and continues to advise some of the party's leading figures. His experience as a political strategist also includes directing a number of successful political campaigns throughout Latin America, including in Colombia, Bolivia, Chile and Peru.

He received a degree in philosophy from the University of Massachusetts and pursued graduate studies at Princeton Theological Seminary.

[MH1]

8. Hmmm. I wonder which campaigns in Latin America? nt

[Island Blue]

5. I like the fact that Reilly has close ties

to David Thorne, Tom Valley and other folks who have JK's best interests at heart. I think if he does run in '08, this will be an important factor. Fagidabout people like Shrum who seem to have their own agendas.

[_dynamicdems]

7. I agree. Loyalty is crucial.

It's good to see him hiring people who will be loyal. I don't trust anyone who, as you say, might have their own agenda either.

[karynnj]

11. I think those guys - Thorne, Cam Kerry, Vallery and others

may be the big surprise of 2008. From many accounts of 2004, they had better gut instincts than Shrum did and they know Kerry far far better than the close knit Clinton group knew him in 1992. As you say, they have Kerry's interests at heart and love him for himself - and have no interest in trying to transform him into Clinton 2.

This guy sounds interesting as well in being one of the people who tried to help Kerrey through his difficulty of being accused (with some basis) of actions that killed civilians. It seems again, that Kerry is building teams that can handle that if it arises again.

The other nice thing is that it seems that Kerry is picking people with real ties to his closest friends - this should lead to a far more loyal team than 2004.

[MH1]

6. Hmm. Very interesting.

And I like seeing that Michael Whouley is expected to be back for 2008. I'm not as familiar with Sasso, but I liked the things I read about Whouley - head down, get the job done kind of guy, not a bullshitter. My kind of guy.

[JI7]

10. a lot of these guys are close to Kerry personally

that guy Whouley is. they have been friends for years. an article i read about him, he said one of the reasons he was backing Kerry was because he loved him. i think they should have continued to allow these types to run the national campaign also. i think some of the others they brought on, especially from other campaigns had questionable agendas.

[ginnyinWI]

22. Aww, that's so nice.

"he was backing Kerry was because he loved him."

Still I hope JK remains objective. He had been good friends with Shrum for years too, I think.

[fedupinBushcountry]

9. I wasn't paying attention when Dukakis ran

but I was wondering what the Biden plagiarism was about.

Road to the White House paved with dirty tricks

Mike White and Alex Brummer in Washington
Tuesday November 8, 1988

September 1987: Senator Joe Biden is forced out of Democratic race for plagiarising Neil Kinnock television commercials. Dukakis campaign manager John Sasso admits distributing the video which reveals Biden's plagiarism and is sacked, leaving the Dukakis campaign in hands of untried academic Susan Estrich.

..............................

Al Gore in the article:

snip>

March 1988: Bush wins in South Carolina on March 5 and goes on to sweep the South. Bob Dole is effectively eliminated in Illinois on March 15. But the Democratic battle is still wide open with two Southern hopes, Jackson and Senator Albert Gore, joining Dukakis. Gephardt takes a beating. Paul Simon hangs on with a favourite-son victory in Illinois.

April 1988: Democrats rally around Dukakis after Mr Jackson scores a shocking upset in Michigan caucuses. Dukakis wins Connecticut, Wisconsin and the racially divided New York primary. Al Gore is eliminated after carelessly allowing himself to be bracketed with New York mayor Al Koch, who had said Jews 'would be crazy' to vote for Jackson.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1187558,00.html

[whometense]

12. See this?

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2006/05/the_friday_line_another_early.html

John Kerry: Our belief that the 2004 nominee will run again in 2008 keeps growing. Two weeks ago Kerry spoke at Faneuil Hall in Boston to mark the 35th anniversary of his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after returning from Vietnam,. Kerry is also one of three candidates (Bayh and Clinton are the others) who will likely start 2007 with $10 million or more in a presidential account, ensuring him a spot on the Line for the foreseeable future. Kerry remains devoid of buzz among the chattering classes, but he has managed, somewhat remarkably, to reclaim his standing as a leader in the party over the last 18 months.

That last sentence is a touch on the inscrutable side. Does he mean that while Kerry "remains devoid of buzz among the chattering classes," he retains plenty of buzz among the actual people-who-vote class???

[karynnj]

13. Interesting for two reasons

1) reclaim standing over the last 18 months. By this they are saying that Kerry went from a probable President of the US on Nov 2,2004 to a non-leader a few days later - although he lost by 60,000 votes. This forgets that Kerry very easily was chosen as a leader by the Democratic party. Then suddenly, From is a leader, Reid is a leader, Shumer is a leader, Hillary is a leader .. and Kerry isn't? Very strange inside the beltway logic.

So, why is he now a leader - well people come out to hear him and he raises money well. Maybe the country is becoming like Massachusetts, where you guys have always said that people like him fine - just not the Globe.

2)Devoid of buzz among the chattering class - well he had very little in late 2003 - people just wanted to vote for him. What I don't understand is that of all the candidates in 2004 or 2008, Kerry is the only one who has lived a life that is almost too busy for a movie - he's really just done too much.

[ProSense]

14. Also,

isn't this the 100th article, replete with quotes from "insiders," proclaiming Kerry is devoid of Washington buzz? There is a buzz: they're trying to convince us that there is no buzz.

[whometense]

15. I think karynnj has a great point -

the Beltway buzz on Kerry is a gleeful dismissiveness, along with nervous sideways glances.

The thing DU has never gotten about Kerry is that he has NEVER been an establishment favorite. People like him; people respond to him. But he makes the insiders nervous. He has too much integrity, and is therefore too unpredictable for them.

With the Boston Globe the cause is different, but the result is the same. They insist on viewing him through the same cynical glasses they use to view every other politician, and never give him credit for being as good as he actually is. People see that goodness and respond to it, if they haven't been tainted by cynicism.

[Island Blue]

16. I agree with you Whome.

Isn't it sad that it's a negative (in the eyes of many) when someone has TOO MUCH integrity? I guess the fact that he can't be bought and sold disturbs people on both sides of the political divide. As a result, Americans lose the chance for real leadership.

[ginnyinWI]

23. I think you've hit on an effective talking point!

It has the added value of being true: he has never been an establishment favorite--he likes to rattle too many cages. Getting this point across at DU will give JK "street creds" with some of these people here.

[karynnj]

17. Isn't the constant saying he has no buzz, buzz

I thought buzz was simply who people are talking about. It sounds like this kid's poem, though the size of the man needs a major change.

The Little Man Who Wasn't There
Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
Oh, how I wish he'd go away...

When I came home last night at three
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall
I couldn't see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don't you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don't slam the door... (slam!)

Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
Oh, how I wish he'd go away

I just hope that eventually they will realize that this person who just keeps doing the right thing while they ignore him is better than all the flash in the pans they adore. Maybe this year as there really is no exciting fresh face. Edwards has been there too long, Gore is not really new. They already tried Clark. Maybe, they should really look at Kerry. (Oddly, I remember one early primary debate. After it Matthews said in a voice of genuine incredulousness, "Do you know who I think did best? (pause) John Kerry {/i]. The tone of voice was as if doing well in a debate was the last thing in the world John Kerry could ever have done.

[whometense]

18. I think this is just about right.

Except that he's not little. ;-)

It's no change at all from what was going on with the media in 2003 - Kerry's candidacy was either dead, dead, or dead, depending on who you listened to. The idiots who insist Kerry was the choice of the establishment have no idea what they're talking about. He was the logical choice, but that doesn't mean he had any beltway support whatsoever.

He definitely seems to have negative buzz among the talking heads that are trying to kick dirt over him.

[TayTay]

19. That's because he doesn't need them

And they don't want him. They smell money with another candidate. I think they are all better off with divorce, sometimes it's the best idea.

[whometense]

20. It's true that he's better off without them.

I suspect if you could ask him he'd smile and say Hillary is welcome to all the frontrunner attention. Meanwhile, he's just the Energizer Bunny of politicians, busier than any other three put together.

Plus that flying-under-the-radar thing is what he likes best.

[ginnyinWI]

25. dark-horse Kerry.

I'm liking this more and more. :)

[ginnyinWI]

24. Tweety doesn't want to like JK, but he can't help himself

Matthews does have some political smarts--knows an effective politician (and an Alpha Male) when he sees one-- but is usually too seduced by the GOP "powers that be" to say too much in his favor. Lately Tweety's really been probing the hypocrisy of the administration--so I'll give credit where credit is due.

In JK's presence he has always seemed like an awe-struck kid--that should speak volumes. He was clearly blown away by JK's performance in Debate 1.

[ProSense]

27. Yup! It's like the

DCCC survey. It would be really odd for them to just not mention Kerry because he has so much support. When I think about it, they're not (no longer) trying to convince us that he has no support. Now it's that Washington insiders, aren't talking about Kerry. What the hell does that mean to me? It means Washington insiders' banter has nothing to do with real people's lives. They are on a mission to promote anyone who will protect their interests and influence.

[karynnj]

28. We need to keep at least one of those links

to post every time DUers pull that DLC, insider, corporate, party insiders favorite. (Yeah I remember all those insider endorsements in Dec 2003 Kerry got ... or rather Dean got.)

[zann725]

26. Where does one 'enlist?'

n/t