What was it like behind the scenes on the Kerry campaign Trail? Newsweek embedded 7 reporters deeper in his campaign than other reporters were allowed on the understanding they not publish thier story until after the election. What did they have to say? Apparently, Kerry really was almost as indecisive as charicatured by the opposition. Theresa Heintz was an EVEN BIGGER drag on the campaign than was let on. Kerry didn't treat his subordinates with all that much respect, and tensions often ran high. There was frequent fueding among the senior staffers. Even his campaign managers actually didn't know what his overall message was supposed to be! Read on for details, or read the whole
Washington Post article I got it from (registration is free).
Some specifics:
"Kerry was both "cranky" and more indecisive than he was portrayed by the media. "I couldn't get the man to make decisions," said former campaign manager Jim Jordan. As late as days before the Democratic convention, Kerry was still "dithering" and presiding over endless discussions on whether to abandon public financing for the fall campaign before deciding against private fundraising. Top aides grew so tired of Kerry continuing to seek advice on issues they considered settled that they took away his cell phone."
"Teresa Kerry was a major "distraction" who "demanded everyone's attention, including her husband's." During the primaries she told Jordan: "I want you to issue a challenge for me to debate Howard Dean." On a Grand Canyon hike meant to provide footage of a happy family vacation, "Teresa was soon complaining of migraines" as the candidate kept pulling along "his sullen wife and children." Later, Kerry confidant John Sasso told her that she was being too critical of her husband and depressing his spirits. Reporters said last week that the billionaire heiress was banished to travel on her own before they could write about her impact."
"By the fall, Kerry was "unhappy" with senior advisers Robert Shrum and Tad Devine and "annoyed" with communications director Stephanie Cutter, described as too slow-moving and the target of frequent complaints by the traveling press corps. Several Kerry aides call the depiction of Cutter unfair, with senior adviser Joe Lockhart saying: "She had a Herculean task and overall did a very good job.""
"The largest caucus of recriminators, one that spans ideological boundaries and includes critics from every corner of the party, argues that Kerry failed to offer a compelling message. As Kerry seemed to realize in his speech Saturday night, the no-message critique is congealing into conventional wisdom. I heard it in every conceivable permutation from almost everyone I interviewed. 'I don't know that we ever knew what it was we were saying about George W. Bush,' says one senior member of the team, whose job it was to come up with a message about Bush.
"It was a problem that plagued the campaign as soon as they stumbled, penniless, from the primaries into the general election. 'When we got into the general, nobody knew how to go against Bush,' says a senior campaign official. '[Senior adviser Bob] Shrum and [pollster Mark] Mellman built this strategy against Bush, 'Stronger at home, respected in the world.' What does that mean? We never even had strategy memos.' By the fall, things were no better. 'If there was a clear message in September about why you elect Kerry and defeat Bush, most of the people in the campaign were unaware of it,' says one senior strategist hired late in the campaign.
"The lack of message clarity hurt morale and sapped support for Kerry among his own people. 'One thing I would always tell people is that I don't know [manure] about John Kerry,' says a campaign official. 'I had an opportunity to work on his campaign last December and I said, "Well, I don't really know that guy." I still don't. I don't know what he stood for, other than an alternative to George Bush.' That Kerry lacked a clear message isn't just a convenient postelection critique. It was a mantra during the campaign. Says a junior staffer, 'I remember one day [Joe] Lockhart saying, after watching the evening news, 'We have no message.'' It didn't help that the Bush team was extremely effective in pushing its own message. 'I don't think we ever came up with a frame to define Bush in the way they did with Kerry,' says a senior official. 'They woke up every day and said, "We're going to call John Kerry a flip-flopper." We did not wake up every day and call Bush X."