Posted on 05/22/2004 11:05:02 PM PDT by bayourod
WASHINGTON -- Ken Mehlman is a no-nonsense CEO who leads the corporation formally known as Bush-Cheney '04, Inc., the well-oiled re-election campaign.
Mehlman's businesslike ethic suffuses the operation, from the hushed, carpeted hallways of the spotless campaign headquarters to the courteous, well-dressed young Republicans who staff it.
In person, Mehlman is focused and direct, filled with purpose in securing Bush's re-election at a time when, according to several opinion polls, unease about the war in Iraq has eroded the president's popularity. Those who know him will tell you: Mehlman is organized, Mehlman is brilliant. He is driven, disciplined, and tireless.
There are other dimensions, as well.
"He is easy to personally discombobulate," said Karl Rove, White House adviser and longtime Mehlman mentor.
"He has funny habits," said U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, one of Mehlman's former bosses.
Out of Rove's shadow
A lot is riding on Mehlman this year as Republicans look to an election that could be as close as the one in 2000 and hinge on unemployment figures and the fate of Baghdad rather than campaign debates and TV commercials. Just 37 years old, he has come into his own, after years of working in Rove's shadow, to head up the most expensive political campaign in history.
But Mehlman said the responsibility doesn't feel like a crushing weight.
"I love my job, and I don't consider this to be burden, I consider this to be something I enjoy doing, a lot," Mehlman said. "I don't ever wake up and say, `Oh God, I have to go to work.' I wake up looking forward to going to work."
Mehlman is from Baltimore, although his background includes several years working in Texas politics. He calls himself a "Texan by employment," and maintains close ties with Granger and others connected to the state.
His loyalty to Bush the Texan is complete: "First and foremost, I believe in George W. Bush," he said.
Like many Republicans of his generation, Mehlman found his first political hero in Ronald Reagan. At 14, Mehlman worked at the fringes of the Reagan-Bush campaign, going door to door in Maryland precincts.
A graduate of Harvard Law School, Mehlman practiced law with the politically connected firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld before going to work as legislative director for U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, in 1994.
From 1996 to 1999, he was chief of staff for Granger. There, Mehlman showed the traits that would eventually lead to the helm of Bush's massive re-election campaign.
"He had so many ideas, he was frankly driving me crazy," Granger said.
Pressed for details about Mehlman's "funny habits," Granger balked slightly, as do many who have dirt on Mehlman but won't give it up.
She said he often struggled with idea overload and she had to set some limits.
"Narrow it down to five and we'll talk," she recalled telling him.
During that period, as he honed his political skills in the sometimes exciting, sometimes tedious world of congressional staffing, Mehlman was first noticed by Rove.
"It struck me at the time that he was very well organized, very able and very focused. When you meet him, it's clear he is someone who is going places," Rove said.
A former Austin political consultant, Rove managed Smith's first congressional race in 1986 and went on to run Granger's in 1996. In 1998, Mehlman ran Granger's re-election campaign while Rove worked for then-Governor Bush.
When Bush ran for president two years later, Rove was on board as political strategist -- and so was Mehlman, who worked as national field director, organizing the party's massive volunteer and get-out-the-vote effort.
After Bush won in 2000, Mehlman was off to the White House, serving as deputy assistant to the president and director of political affairs. It was under Mehlman's watch that the GOP in 2002 took control of the Senate and shored up its House majority.
PowerPoint controversy
A few months before the election, Mehlman and Rove attracted controversy when a leaked PowerPoint presentation they had used to brief California Republicans circulated on Capitol Hill and among the news media.
Democrats and others seized on the presentation, a detailed analysis of Republican election prospects, as proof Rove was running a taxpayer-financed political operation out of the White House.
The White House had no official response to the charge, but an unidentified official there told the Washington Post that political work by Rove and Mehlman was done in full compliance with the law and that "it's not rocket science" that Rove would be tracking elections across the country.
The incident also underscored a perception that Mehlman served primarily as the sidekick and junior operative for Rove, who is older, more experienced and closer to the president.
When Mehlman took over as campaign manager for the re-election effort, it was a chance not only to run a huge national operation, but also to step out from behind Rove.
"It seems to me watching from the outside that Ken not only has the trust of Rove, but of the president, and he is not seen anymore as Rove's guy," said Jenny Backus, a Washington-based Democratic strategist.
In his role as campaign manager, Mehlman said he sees himself as a corporate chief executive officer. When he was approached about the job, Mehlman insisted on being allowed to hire his own staff and operate with autonomy from the White House.
"What that means is you surround yourself with good people, you need to trust those people to make smart decisions, you need to measure how you are doing, and you need to trust those people, and I try to manage the campaign that way," Mehlman said.
Personal side surfaces
For all his stoic efficiency on the campaign, Mehlman has at times shown those around him a more personal side that is not without vulnerability.
After his recent purchase of a sporty new BMW drew merciless teasing from friends and co-workers, a mortified Mehlman hid his new car away. It's an incident few in Mehlman's fiercely loyal circle now will discuss on the record.
"Everybody was kidding him about it," Rove said.
Mehlman's enhanced role has brought a new level of attention to the less-than-telegenic manager. More of a rumpled, wonkish type than the caricatured blow-dried political operative, Mehlman nevertheless has embraced some of the more public aspects of the job.
"He is very funny. He just went on the Daily Show. We were telling him to be careful, don't try to be too funny, you're the political guy," said Mark Wallace, Bush-Cheney deputy campaign manager and a close friend of Mehlman's. "And he was funny."
Mehlman was less funny a few weeks earlier, when he took a lead in trying to discredit Richard Clarke, the former White House terrorism adviser who strongly criticized the administration's handling of pre-9/11 security.
Appearing on CNN, Mehlman said Clarke had a credibility problem and was "trying to sell books." Around the same time, Mehlman was defending the campaign's use of imagery from the 9/11 attacks in television ads. Critics said the ads exploited tragedy.
In his defense, Mehlman said that "9/11 was the defining moment of these times. Because of that day, America is at war and still is."
The money the campaign is pulling in -- expected to top $270 million -- enables the Bush-Cheney apparatus to use newer and more sophisticated methods in getting out the vote in November.
Among the innovations this year are the use of data-mining and database technology, which uses buying habits and other information to target key voter groups.
Mehlman also is fielding an army of volunteers, going door-to-door in key states and precincts, armed with equipment similar to Palm Pilots to track voters and communicate with them regularly in the run-up to the November election.
Bush's campaign manager said this year's tactics are just the entry point into all the ways the Internet and other technology can be used to muster votes.
"Mastering the latest technology often is the key to political success," Mehlman said. "In the 1930s when Franklin Roosevelt mastered the radio, he was able to attract money and support. In the 1960s when John F. Kennedy understood before his opponent did the power of television and the power of the image, he had that power. In the late '70s when (conservative consultant) Richard Viguerie brought direct mail into politics, that was important. The Web is just the latest, and it's an incredibly important tool."
Mehlman said he is optimistic about the Bush campaign, adding he doesn't believe Americans agree with Democrat John Kerry on most issues. He predicted the election season will focus largely on the war in Iraq and the economy.
"Politics is my vocation and avocation, and that is a unique combination," Mehlman said. "Most people, unless they are a professional athlete, don't get to have that."
Great.
Bump!
bttt
And some claim there no Jewish Republicans...:)
To the people who obcess over that, first mistake at best he morphs from a Republican to a a neocon.
Bwaaaa....;)
Wasn't Mehlman the one who made the comment about what John Kerry's campaign is on-"I served in Vietnam, yada yada yada, I want to be President"? He's very effective.
I think he converted from Jew to Texan.
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