DEAN HAS ACE UP HIS SLEEVE
Howard Dean has hired Gray Davis' supersleuth.
Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean likes to present himself as a breath of fresh air: He won't join the cynical, insider political culture that he repeatedly describes in speeches as "Say whatever it takes to get elected."
So it was with considerable glee this week that a top aide to a Dean opponent informed me that the former Vermont governor has just hired killer gumshoe Ace Smith to gather dirt on political rivals.
The very same Ace Smith who ran "oppo research" for sharp-elbowed, soon-to-be-ex-California Gov. Gray Davis - "puke campaigns," in the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"Ace certainly has that jugular instinct," says an operative who has worked closely with him on Davis' campaigns.
The 44-year-old Smith - who operates from a San Francisco office building that was used in the movie "Dirty Harry" as a crazed sniper's perch - didn't sound pleased when I phoned him yesterday.
"I'm trying to be really low-key," he told me. "My name appearing in a newspaper somewhere doesn't do me a whole lot of good. I'm not doing anything tremendously interesting anyway.
I'm just helping them get their whole research department organized. It's really quite bureaucratic and boring."
Political consultants such as Smith can receive fees of as much as $30,000 monthly, but neither Smith nor the Dean campaign would comment on his compensation.
As for rival campaigns that might accuse Dean of hypocrisy for recruiting this hired gun, "Personally, I think it's laughable," Smith said. "Gimme a break. I don't think anyone cares about who the consultants are anyway."
Dean campaign spokesman Jay Carson told me: "Whenever you get attacked by a bunch of Washington insiders, it's good to have someone on your side who knows them well."