The time to fire somebody is the first time you think of it.
Your staff was supposed to be carrying you over a cesspool, and they let go. You need to make it clear to them and the surviving members of Team Edwards that you are no one to be screwed with.
Democrats, Gore and Kerry among them, have a nasty habit of firing campaign managers after the shooting starts. This is unbecoming, demoralizing, and, worst of all, destructive of that precious commodity, time. So do it now. Get it out of your system.
When I say campaign manager, I don't mean the 61-year-old former congressman David Bonier whom I assume is in a chairman-like role rather than in charge of actual "combat" operations. Indeed, Bonior himself should do the firing, keep you above the fray.
But make an example of the people who screwed up your opening day.
Read more to learn why heads must roll
- First, members of your staff ran their mouths to the New York Times that you had made up your mind to run before you said so yourself. This produced, among other bad things, a pretty brutal front page postby Matt Stoller on MyDD. You don't need guys talking out of the corner of their mouths, trying to look smart.
- Second, unbelievably, your staff went live with a website announcing your candidacy a day early.
It is early Thursday morning, the day of your announcement, and already you're the candidate who hired the gang that couldn't shoot straight. From mainstream to blogstream, influential voices are saying "Oops!" and "Bad Edwards."
Is that good? That ain't good.
Somebody screwed the pooch, and somebody should pay. If you don't take quick action, that someone will be you. The Democrats, both grassroots and beltway, are watching you, so don't be a candy-ass.
Fire somebody. You'll feel better, and the rest of your staff will learn when to say, "You'll have to ask the Senator that." And maybe they'll even work a little hard on their cockamamie jobs, whether that job using FTP correctly or talking to the New York Times.