Kerry's ex-manager spurs anti-Bush effortWASHINGTON -- If there is a nerve center of what the Republican Party calls the "shadow campaign" to drive President Bush from office, it is a sparsely furnished corner office on the seventh floor of an unremarkable office building a few blocks from the White House.
Each morning, a group of mostly twentysomethings gathers around a conference table. Notepads in hand, they engage in a freewheeling discussion about national news stories in the morning papers and issues of importance in 17 critical states around the country. They devise a rapid-response plan to political events scheduled for that day and assemble a list of anti-Bush or pro-Democrat stories to push to hundreds of print and broadcast media outlets. Officially, they toil for no candidate. In reality, they are working furiously to replace Bush with John F. Kerry and elect other Democrats in the process. Leading the group is Jim Jordan. A year ago, the 43-year-old North Carolina native was managing a foundering Kerry presidential campaign. Last November, Kerry sacked him. Jordan was quickly recruited by the leaders of a cluster of controversial -- Republicans contend illegal -- "527s," so named for the section of the tax code under which a proliferating number of politically active nonprofit organizations operate in the McCain-Feingold era of campaign finance reform. Jordan and his staff, known as the Thunder Road Group, consult with three of the major 527s: America Coming Together, The Media Fund, and America Votes. Through June 30, the three had spent about $55 million on their various missions. America Coming Together, with about 300 employees and 1,400 paid canvassers, is building an Election Day organization in 17 states and intends to spend $110 million by Election Day. The Media Fund thus far has spent $27 million on television ads, mostly attacking Bush in those key states. America Votes is an umbrella group of 33 liberal, labor, and issues organizations that is mobilizing voters for the fall. They are bankrolled mostly by six- and seven-figure donations from wealthy activists eager to oust Bush. The Bush campaign and Republican National Committee tried to have them declared illegal, as violating the intent of McCain-Feingold in 2002 to squeeze unlimited contributions -- known as soft money -- from federal electioneering. The Federal Election Commission has declined to act on the complaint. Jordan's consulting firm has been paid about $1.7 million to date. That covers office overhead, computers, a staff of 22 researchers and communications specialists, plus pollsters and lawyers. It is an operation unlike any other in politics, devising strategy, message, and public relations services for the 527s. Ironically, the man whom Kerry fired played a vital role in buoying the Kerry candidacy during the months after he had locked up the party nomination but was strapped for cash to answer an onslaught of Bush attack ads. The 527s advertised heavily in the spring -- and are set to do so again in August, when Kerry will be trying to husband his public campaign dollars as he waits for Bush to take federal money in early September. Continued... |
