Those disappointed that the initial instalments of the Campbell memoirs won’t be dishing up the good stuff might like to turn their attention to those of Bob Shrum, the veteran US political consultant who effectively ran the Gore and Kerry campaigns and is now close to Gordon Brown. His autobiography No Excuses is designed to wound two of the Democratic front-runners, Clinton and Edwards.
Shrum launches a no-holes-barred assault on Edwards accusing him of being unready for prime time, devious and prepared to crassly exploit his son’s death for political purposes. On Clinton, he charges that Bill wanted Kerry to endorse Bush’s Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. This plays to what concerns many Democrat’s most about the Clintons: that they’ll say and do anything to get elected. Coming on top of a forensic examination of her shifting positions on the war it is unhelpful to say the least. It also means that Hillary will have more trouble raising money from gay donors, who are an important part of the Democrats fund-raising base. Indeed, seeing as Shrum also reveals that Edwards once called homosexuals “those people” Obama can expect to sew up that donor base. The book also reveals another advantage that Obama has: he hasn’t been around long enough to make serious enemies.
For more on Shrum see this great post by Danny Finkelstein.
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