True Tales from the Campaign Trail, Vol. 2

Jerry Austin

Description

True Tales from the Campaign Trail finds Democratic and Republican political consultants putting aside their differences to offer entertaining and honest insights into the art of the political campaign. First-hand accounts from across the spectrum detail the trials and tribulations of primaries for Ted Kennedy, Oliver North, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton; fraught Senate races fought with direct mail; and down-and-dirty tricks pulled in local elections. The variety of funny foibles and lessons learned makes for an engaging celebration of the democratic process and the campaign trail. True Tales from the Campaign Trail, Volume 2 is a compilation of great campaign anecdotes from experienced political consultants, Democratic and Republican, and other great storytellers. Many of the stories are funny. Many of the stories give you a behind-the-scenes view of what happens in campaigns when the camera is off and the reporters have put down their laptops, and all of these stories are stories that only an insider could tell. Anyone with any curiosity about how political campaigns are run and won will enjoy this book.

Informations

• Publié par: University of Akron Press
• Date de parution: 20 novembre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781629220215
• Langue: English

Extrait

Praise for True Tales from the Campaign Trail
Every campaign is nothing more than a story, a snapshot of our time. And the best storytellers are the people who work on the campaigns. The tales in this book will touch your heart and make you laugh out loud.
—Nan Whaley, mayor of Dayton, Ohio
Jerry Austin teaches American politics. His text is composed of tales from the field—he lives, collects, and publishes them, his own and those of some of America’s foremost practitioners of political arts and sciences. Austin leads us in learning from them. Or just grabbing a favorite beverage and enjoying the hell out of them both. Either way these are great stories and this is a terrific read and you’ll learn more about politics than you ever got from any poli-sci course. Because Jerry Austin is one super teacher.
—Tom Sawyer (congressman, state senator, mayor of Akron and state representative)
Bliss Institute Series John C. Green, Editor
Jerry Austin, True Tales from the Campaign Trail, Vol. 2: Stories Only Political Consultants Can Tell
William Hershey and Colleagues, Profiles in Achievement: The Gifts, Quirks and Foibles of Ohio’s Best Politicians
Joy Marsella, Creating a New Civility
William Hershey, Quick & Quotable: Columns from Washington, 1985–1997
Jerry Austin, True Tales from the Campaign Trail: Stories Only Political Consultants Can Tell
Christopher J. Galdieri, Tauna S. Sisco, and Jennifer C. Lucas, editors, Races, Reforms, & Policy: Implications of the 2014 Midterm Elections
Tauna S. Sisco, Jennifer C. Lucas, and Christopher J. Galdieri, editors, Political Communication & Strategy: Consequences of the 2014 Midterm Elections
William L. Hershey and John C. Green, Mr. Chairman: The Life and Times of Ray C. Bliss
Douglas M. Brattebo, Tom Lansford, Jack Covarrubias, and Robert J. Pauly Jr., editors, Culture, Rhetoric, and Voting: The Presidential Election of 2012
Douglas M. Brattebo, Tom Lansford, and Jack Covarrubias, editors, A Transformation in American National Politics: The Presidential Election of 2012
Daniel J. Coffey, John C. Green, David B. Cohen, and Stephen C. Brooks, Buckeye Battleground: Ohio, Campaigns, and Elections in the Twenty-First Century
Lee Leonard, A Columnist’s View of Capitol Square: Ohio Politics and Government, 1969–2005
Abe Zaidan, with John C. Green, Portraits of Power: Ohio and National Politics, 1964–2000
True Tales from the Campaign Trail
Stories Only Political Consultants Can Tell
Volume 2
Written and compiled by Jerry Austin
All Material Copyright © 2021 by The University of Akron Press
All rights reserved • First Edition 2021 • Manufactured in the United States of America.
All inquiries and permission requests should be addressed to the Publisher, The University of Akron Press, Akron, Ohio 44325-1703.
ISBN : 978-1-62922-017-8 (paper) ISBN : 978-1-62922-045-1 (ePDF) ISBN : 978-1-62922-021-5 (ePub)
A catalog record for this title is available from the Library of Congress.
∞ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI / NISO z39.48–1992 (Permanence of Paper).
Cover design and illustration: Doug Granger
True Tales from the Campaign Trail was designed and typeset in Adobe Caslon with Futura display by Beth Pratt. True Tales from the Campaign Trail was printed on sixty-pound white and bound by Bookmasters of Ashland, Ohio.
Contents
Introduction
I. Strother Stories
Sound Problem | Raymond Strother
That Cadillac Don’t Run on Water | Raymond Strother
A Million Dollar Campaign | Raymond Strother
Losing Papa Brock | Raymond Strother
Please Don’t Kill a Reporter | Raymond Strother
Buick and Beer | Raymond Strother
Good Old Boy with Bad Habits | Raymond Strother
Protecting the Institution | Raymond Strother
Old Friends Conduct Politics | Raymond Strother
Gary Hart Makes a Call | Raymond Strother
Gary Hart Makes a Decision | Raymond Strother
Gary Hart is Set Up | Raymond Strother
Mark of a Losing Campaign | Raymond Strother
Where Credit is Due | Raymond Strother
Crazy | Raymond Strother
Dwarf Luck | Raymond Strother
II. Campaigns
Firing a Candidate | Jerry Austin
Signs, Wires, Hats, Gloves—and a Jacket | Kevin Lampe
Mr. Ed Talks Again | David Heller
The Louisiana Way of Doing Business | Bill Fletcher
The Best $300 I Ever Spent | Kitty Kurth
Candidates Say the Darndest Things | Garry South
The NAACP Tournament | Garry South
American Joe | David Heller
Radon Ramble | Jack Corrigan
Debating the Debate | Donald R. Sweitzer
A Question of Timing | Jerry Austin
Money, Mistakes and Timing | Joe Slade White
Fired on the Spot | David Heller
As Luck Would Have It | Jerry Austin
You’re Running Against Whom? | Tony Fazio
Making a Contribution | Gerry Tyson
Who are My Friends? | Garry South
Surprise! | Celinda Lake
Hotel Roosevelt | Jack Corrigan
Bill Randle Mr. Scandal | David Heller
The Big Three | Jerry Austin
III. Beginnings and Endings
I Got Here as Fast as I Could | Tom Vilsack
Best Decisions | Curt Steiner
How I Got Started in Politics | Rick Silver
Innovation and Revenge | Rick Silver
When I Caught the Bug | Warren Tompkins
Job Interview | Jack Walsh
Serendipity | Dale Butland
Getting Started in Politics | Sarah Kovner
My First Political Job | Mark Weaver
Beres, Not Perez | Tom Beres
A Wakeup Moment | Steve Rosenthal
Queen Elizabeth and the Bottle of Cheap Gin | Sal Russo
The Agony of Defeat | William Sweeney
IV. Politics
The Mummers Parade | Mark Siegel
Perils of Legislating | Katherine Rogers
Calling the Shot | Jerry Austin
Bloomingdales, Yankee Stadium and the Supreme Court | Mark Siegel
Hardball Politics | Evan Dobelle
Softball Politics | Terry Flemming
The Right Staff and The Amazing Metz | Dale Butland
Laurel and Hardy | Joanne Limbach
Zoo Plane | Joe Slade White
Carter, Mineta and Me | Les Francis
Good Morning, Palm Beach | Kevin Lampe
The Governor is Gay | Hank Sheinkopf
V. Personalities
Why Not You, Barack? | Kitty Kurth
Dick Morris | Hank Sheinkopf
Be Kind to Dogs—and Vote Democratic | Les Francis
Roger Stone | Hank Sheinkopf
How Not to Make a Deal | Mark Siegel
Me and bin Laden | Phil Noble
Ed Koch | Victor Kovner
Bella Abzug | Sarah Kovner
Eleanor Roosevelt | Sarah Kovner
Robert Morgenthau | Victor Kovner
Knowing John Glenn | Dale Butland
Zero G’s and Feeling Fine | Dan Mowbray
Too Funny to Run | Robert Neuman
I Don’t Know If I Have Alzheimer’s or Not | Garry South
As Grave a Thing as Any | Jim Guy Tucker
Speechless | Jerry Austin
About the Contributors
Introduction
There I was in Monrovia, Liberia in October of 2019, helping train seventy-five young African leaders from ten countries in West Africa.
I was the guest speaker for days three and four of a five-day training session under the auspices of Young Political Leaders Africa. My topics were “How to Run a Campaign” and “What Are the Attributes of a Good Candidate?”
After I was introduced, I asked each participant to stand up and introduce themselves to the group. I reminded them of the importance of a good candidate having the ability to communicate and speaking was the main vehicle for communicating.
The first speaker, a young woman from Ghana stated, “I don’t know what to say.”
I replied, “Tell me about yourself as if you were telling me a story.”
For the next day and a half, the seventy-five participants told me and their colleagues their story.
The next exercise was to tell a story about either someone else or about an incident they experienced. This activity captured the next day and a half.
Story telling is what True Tales from the Campaign Trail, Volume 2 , is about. But story telling is also a campaign tool.
As a postscript to the Liberia conference, I received an email a few months later. It was from my first speaker from Ghana. I did not know she was in the middle of a campaign for their version of state representative. She had run four years ago and lost. She was the first female to compete for an office in her area of Ghana.
Her email thanked me for teaching her to tell stories as a campaign strategy. She won her race. Effective story telling was the difference.
Volume 2 contains stories not as triumphant as my friend from Ghana, but they do continue the behind-the-curtain look at campaigns from the great political consultant story tellers of the last forty years begun with Volume 1. * These stories are from both Democrats and Republicans. They share a love of politics/campaigns and the people they’ve met during their careers.
I would like to thank my fellow consultants who shared their stories, and Doug Granger who designed the covers for Volumes 1 and 2. A special thanks to the staff of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at The University Akron, and Director Dr. John C. Green, whose editing and encouragement made both volumes possible.
ENJOY!
Gerald “Jerry” Austin
Tallmadge, Ohio
Summer 2020
_______________
* Gerald Austin, True Tales from the Campaign Trail. Akron, Ohio, University of Akron Press, 2017.
I. Strother Stories
 
Dedication
Raymond Strother is to political consulting what Babe Ruth was to baseball, Red Grange was to football, and Red Auerbach was to basketball. He put the profession on the map.
Ray has been a mentor and friend to most of the storytellers in this book.
This paragraph promoting Ray’s book, Falling Up: How A Redneck Helped Invent Political Consulting, * best describes him:
Beneath the white hot-glare of modern media-sphere, where “old pol,” shake every-hand-campaigns have given way to electronic image making and speed-of-light smear tactics, Ray Strother rolls cheerily along. A cross between a patriotic redneck raconteur and a TV-savvy renaissance man, Strother is unafraid to name names and refuses to mince words in tales of what he calls “the beauty and gore” of American politics.
Thank you, Ray!
_______________
* Raymon