Posted on 09/04/2011 4:11:28 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Show up at a Rick Perry campaign event, whether a book signing in New Orleans, a prayer rally in Houston or a speech to enthusiastic Republican faithful in South Carolina, and you may notice a hulking, gray-haired man standing on the fringes of the crowd.
He rarely gives interviews these days and is not yet well-known outside political circles.
Yet, Dave Carney is, without question, the most important person in Perry's presidential quest outside of the candidate himself.
Almost every presidential election cycle, the spotlight illuminates a campaign guru whose tactical acumen seemingly propels his client to heights unreachable alone.
For Republicans, Karl Rove — “Bush's Brain” — occupied that position during George W. Bush's White House years; James Carville was the Democrats' man with a campaign plan for Bill Clinton.
For 2012, Carney is stepping into that role, as his client soars in the early polls and he gets credit for a strategic innovation he put into place for Perry's 2006 Texas gubernatorial race and may be adapting for Perry's presidential quest.
The state's longest-serving governor was insisting as recently as a few months ago that he had no interest in being president, whereas his campaign strategist has been preparing for this moment throughout a long and winding behind-the-scenes odyssey in local, state and national politics.
Carney originally had cast his lot in this year's Republican primary with Newt Gingrich, as his New Hampshire coordinator, but left as part of an exodus of top campaign staff in June. To many, that was a signal Perry would enter the race, which he did three weeks ago.
Neither Carney nor the Perry campaign returned phone calls seeking comment for this report.
Early career
Carney, 52, began his political career in his native New Hampshire, working for former Gov. John Sununu, then followed his mentor to Washington when Sununu became President George H.W. Bush's chief of staff.
At 33, he was named national field director for the 1992 Bush-Quayle presidential campaign and four years later was a senior adviser to then-Sen. Majority Leader Bob Dole during the Kansan's White House bid.
“At 36, Carney is already a legend among Republican operatives,” Time magazine wrote.
After Dole lost to Clinton, the legend retreated to the New Hampshire woods, where he concentrated on growing his consulting firm, Norway Hill Associates, based in his hometown, Hancock.
His wife, Lauren, is co-owner and stays closer to home while Carney flies Southwest Airlines back and forth to Texas.
Former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, then chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, brought Carney to the Lone Star State in 1993 to help with Kay Bailey Hutchison's U.S. Senate bid.
Chad Wilbanks, former executive director of the Texas Republican Party, credited Carney with helping Hutchison distinguish herself in a special-election field of 24 candidates and then go on to defeat Bob Krueger, a former Texas congressman appointed by Gov. Ann Richards to serve out Lloyd Bentsen's term when he became U.S. Treasury secretary.
“A lot of his skill has to do with his being able to take a wealth of information and break it down into simple terms, whether it's polling data, history, resources, whatever,” Wilbanks said. “He helps his candidate speak the language that the American people understand.”
The New Englander came back to Texas in 1997, when Austin-based GOP consultant Rove dropped his other clients, including a relatively obscure state agriculture commissioner named Perry, to concentrate on Gov. George W. Bush's 1998 re-election effort and subsequent presidential campaign. Carney picked up Perry, and the two have been together ever since.
Carney and Rove found themselves at odds a year later, when Bush was breezing toward re-election, and Perry was in a tough lieutenant governor's race with Democrat John Sharp, the state comptroller.
Carney insisted Perry go negative, despite Rove's insistence that negative campaigning would depress voter turnout and undercut the Bush portrait he was crafting of a “compassionate conservative.”
Carney got his way and Perry won, barely, but the Carney-Rove working relationship didn't. The estrangement has only gotten worse. Carney never endorsed Bush during the 2000 GOP primary and 10 years later dismissed Hutchison and her Bush-family supporters as “country-club Republicans.”
In the early days of Perry's presidential campaign, Rove has been one of the governor's most outspoken critics.
The Perry team
Years ago, former White House chief of staff Andrew Card good-naturedly described Carney as “temperamental and a bit nuts,” but those who know both Carney and Rove say Carney is more secure with himself than Rove.
Reporters find Carney terse and to the point, although he can flash a self-deprecating sense of humor and doesn't seem to hold a grudge.
Like Rove, he has developed a reputation as a no-nonsense professional who will do pretty much whatever it takes to win. A key to Carney's success, said Austin political consultant Bill Miller, is a cohesive campaign team whose members have worked together for years.
“The collegiality of the Perry team under Dave Carney is far superior to that of the Bush team under Karl Rove,” Miller said. “They understand each other better, and they work better together.”
The Carney team was in place for Perry's 2002 governor's race against Democrat Tony Sanchez. Despite being outspent 3-1 by the multimillionaire Laredo businessman, the team ran a vicious campaign that focused on Sanchez's failed savings and loan and its alleged connections to drug kingpins. Perry won with more than 57 percent of the vote.
Heading into the governor's 2006 re-election effort, Carney came across a book by Yale political scientist Donald Green that radically changed the way he looked at campaigns.
In “Get Out the Vote: How to Increase Voter Turnout,” Green and co-author Alan Gerber contend that modern-day campaign staples — mass mailings, TV buys and robocalls — were striking in their ineffectiveness. What worked, they maintained, were old-fashioned approaches — knocking on doors, phone calls by volunteers, public appearances by the candidate.
Carney bought the book for everyone on his team and then invited Green and Gerber, along with political scientists Daron Shaw of the University of Texas at Austin, and James Gimpel of the University of Maryland to test the book's conclusions during the 2006 race.
Gimpel said that invitation proved to him that Carney isn't a know-it-all.
“He thinks he has something to learn, and he's willing to learn,” Gimpel said last week. “I don't know too many consultants who are willing or secure enough to admit that they don't know it all.”
Sasha Issenberg, the author of a forthcoming book about the new science of campaigns, told the New York Times recently that “the eggheads,” as they were known within the Perry camp, ran extensive experiments testing the effectiveness of techniques and concluded the highest-value use of Perry's time as a campaigner was to do public events around the state.
The professors persuaded Carney and the governor that a grass-roots approach not only was more effective politically but also dramatically more cost-effective. TV ads, they concluded, had short-lived impact, and robocalls had no effect at all, while direct mail invariably ended up in the trash.
Their findings provided the scaffolding for Perry's 2010 campaign against Hutchison and Debra Medina in the GOP primary and in the general election against Bill White.
“I think that it probably saved them some money and probably kept them from doing some conventional, stupid stuff that doesn't work, during the primary,” Gimpel said. “It allowed them to run up the margin just enough on KBH that they avoided a runoff. A runoff would have been a $2 million proposition. That freed up resources for elsewhere, and that gave them a leg up on Bill White.”
Gimpel particularly was impressed with the “home headquarters” scheme, which involved supporters volunteering to get 12 pro-Perry voters to the polls. He expects Carney to adapt the idea to Perry's presidential campaign.
‘Bit of a bully'
Kathy Sullivan, a New Hampshire lawyer and Democratic national committeewoman, professes not to be terribly impressed with Carney's innovation.
“That's something we've all been talking about for several election cycles,” she said. “The way TV works, with TiVo and people speeding through ads, we've been stressing knocking on doors and pounding the pavement for some time. (Former Democratic presidential candidate) Howard Dean was doing it in 2004. It's not original with Dave.”
Sullivan admits that she and Carney don't like each other.
“I think Dave's a bit of a bully. He has a nasty temper, doesn't like to be challenged,” she said last week.
In 2004, Sullivan filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission for Carney's role in trying to get Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader on the ballot in New Hampshire as a way to undercut support for Democratic nominee John Kerry.
“The FEC staff wanted to proceed,” she said, “but the FEC commissioners said no.”
Sullivan noted that Carney also has been involved with a Virginia-based group called Americans for Job Security, which has a reputation for running multimillion-dollar attack ads against candidates without disclosing the source of the money.
In 2002, the Alaska Public Offices Commission fined the group for improperly trying to influence Alaska elections. It already is running pro-Perry ads in New Hampshire.
In Texas, the group attacked a Republican state representative from Longview, Tommy Merritt, in a state Senate special election because he had been an outspoken Perry critic and had opposed Republican congressional redistricting efforts.
“Dave Carney is a ruthless political consultant,” Merritt told the Houston Chronicle in 2009. “Dave Carney has no respect for the person's well-being or love of family if they stand in Dave Carney's way.”
Gimpel has a slightly different perspective.
“He knows he's in charge,” he said. “He has a foul mouth at times, but probably no more so than a lot of other people in the business. I think it kind of goes with the territory.”
No. It says he started his NH political career at age 52.
It clearly discusses: at age 33 at age 36....
Here’s more about our boy Carney..
“John Henry Sununu (born July 2, 1939) is a former Governor of New Hampshire (1983–89)...”
Mr. Carney has been the Acting Director of Political Affairs since June 1, 1990. Prior to assuming that position, he served as Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Office of Political Affairs. Before joining the President’s staff, Mr. Carney was deputy chief of staff to Governor John H. Sununu. He served on Governor Sununu’s personal staff for 7 years, and was the field director for Governor Sununu’s four statewide campaigns in New Hampshire.
http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/research/public_papers.php?id=2765&year=1991&month=3
Carney started his political career working for Judd Gregg — now a U.S. senator — in New Hampshire in 1978. That led, circuitously, to working for John Sununu (former New Hampshire governor and White House chief of staff) and then to President George H.W. Bush and then, after some years, to Texas and Perry.
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-politics/david-m-dave-carney/dave-carney-the-tt-interview/
The article is very misleading...and the reading I can find confirms my personal concerns about Rick Perry’s ties to the RinoCracy..which until today I hadn’t understood completely..but have always felt must exist somewhere.
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sorry..David M. Carney was born in 1959
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=David_Carney
point being that if he worked for Governor John Sununu...1983-1989 his political career clearly didn’t start at age 52.
It appears in fact, it started at age 19 working for Judd Greg.
All-all-all..Joe Holley is either sloppy journalist...which I doubt..
“The Sigma Delta Chi Foundation, the educational arm of the Society of Professional Journalists, has awarded the 2001-2002 Eugene C. Pulliam Editorial Fellowship to Joe Holley, Insight editor at the San Antonio Express-News.”
http://www.spj.org/news.asp?ref=21
Or he is papering something over for someone...
Looking at what he did with the above fellowship award in 2001-2002 gives some interesting insight as to the RinoCracy’s interests he furthers..
“During his fellowship, Holley will study changes at the U.S.-Mexican border and investigate a theory that the border is being transcended. He will research and write columns, editorials and news articles on the issue. Holley hopes to turn his research on the U.S.-Mexican border into a book or series of articles that summarize his findings.”
Obama’s “job” as president was national healthcare. IMHO, should Perry achieve it, border dissolution is job.
H-E-L-L-O!!!!!!!!!
READ post #41!!
EPA
Big Education Unions
Trial lawyers
Right on the mark. But alas, too many are too busy fawning over Sarah Palin because, for the guys, she's attractive, for the gals, they fantasize of being like her.
Her speech yesterday was terrific, but she uttered nothing that hasn't been said before, from the likes of Ronald Reagan and Bob Dornan, to give two examples.
And I'll state confidently that Rick Perry isn't going to become flustered and skittish if merely asked, "what do you read?".
That is one of the most unintentionally funny comments I've read on FR in many months.
No, that is not all you did.
In the same post, you said Carney's clients were RINOs and then said Perry is not a conservative's conservative.
You made no break, no distinction betweeen the two thoughts.
Either you are clearly trying to say Carney is a RINO and that his past dealings with GHWB make him somehow nefarious or you did not post your thoughts clearly.
What you STILL do not acknowledge is that Carney now agrees with you and has clearly split with the Bush wing.
Now, you are trying to say Carney is jumping horses.
Please organize your thoughts and post clearly. It appears few people around here understand what you are trying to say.
Those are entirely fair questions, and no candidate should be exempted. Don't, however, forget the big picture: we need to support the ascendancy of the Tea Party at all levels, from federal president to local school board. If we don't have a Tea Party-like Congress, it won't matter who sits in the Oval Office. We could conjure up the ghost of George Washington and elect him unanimously, but if we don't have a sympathetic Congress ole' George himself might be ineffective. Of course we need the Presidency, but we need more than that.
For example, if the judiciary committee is staffed with people known to be sympathetic only to nominees such as Thomas, Bork, and Scalia, a President Perry/Palin/Bachmann won't even think of sending a Souter up there for confirmation. Don't lose sight of the bigger picture. We need a broader victory than just the Oval Office.
Good Lord yes - this is one of the few presidential elections I can remember where congresscritters and senators are equally, if not more important, than the actual president.
That assumes people still band together and get behind the conservative candidate - holding their noses if they have to. Getting a strongly conservative congress and senate will keep the new POTUS’s toes in the fire quite well.
Thanks for your kind comments. If we keep the big picture in mind, I think we’ll be more effective.
“This is FreeRepublic...we don’t attack personally....if you want that kind of argument..head over to DU”
Did you forget the /s?
Find me a thread where anyone says something good about Perry or negative about Palin that does not contain ad hominem attacks and I owe you a case of beer.
You must not be from Texas if you associate Kay with Perry. They loathe one another and marked a big GOP schism in Texas last election.
And Sunnunu and Bush Sr don't care one wit for Perry...the whole Bush posse resents him bigtime.
You can criticize Perry on the border issue...not his best area in my opinion...but you cannot hang those moderates around his neck.
That poster is trying to tie some of Rick Perry’s actual enemies ..who are less conservative..to him when in fact they hate Perry.
The fact this Carney guy has worked for all of them makes no difference.
Carney is a Dick Morris or Ed Rollins or Karl Rove..a hired gun.
The Bush klan hates Perry. My own family in Dallas had a big row over Perry versus Kay..and when Sarah Palin endorsed Perry over Kay, she lost my “women’s business” GOP activist aunt. She and Kay were running buddies...and my aunt had loved Palin before.
It’s hilarious to try to tie this bunch to Perry when they would not tinkle on one another to put out a fire
If you remember, J.D. Hayworth ran against John McCain in 2010 and had support of the local Tea Party. Hayworth is well known for his profound disagreement with Senator John McCain over the concept of amnesty (AKA comprehensive immigration reform). It was because of this disagreement that Hayworth decided to run against McCain last year.
I'm not surprised since Sarah Palin does not support deporting illegals. In fact, she has stated she would support a path of citizenship for illegals.
I would certainly not consider that to be the conservative agenda, my friend.
Tommy Merritt was a RINO Texas Rep who was a traitor to the GOP on voter ID and on other issues. The jerk was taken out in the last election cycle by and upstanding constitutional conservative named David Simpson.
If Carney went after Merritt, bully for him.
Dave Carney is, without question, the most important person in Perry's presidential quest outside of the candidate himself.
Carney originally had cast his lot in this year's Republican primary with Newt Gingrich
Carney's client list: Sununu, President George H.W., Sen. Bob Dole, Sen. Phil Gramm, & Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison
Carney and Rove found themselves at odds a year later...Carney insisted Perry go negative, despite Rove's insistence that negative campaigning would depress voter turnout and undercut the Bush portrait he was crafting of a “compassionate conservative.”
Carney got his way and Perry won, barely, but the Carney-Rove working relationship didn't. The estrangement has only gotten worse.
So the fight between Carney/Perry and Rove/Bush occurred not because of a conservative v. RINO split, but over campaign policy, strategy and tactics. Now that's all from the article.
Carney goes on to run a very efficient and effective campaign for Perry, albeit in a strongly GOP state. He went on to crush Bush-pet Hutchison, all well and good. But, here's the kicker:Carney never endorsed Bush during the 2000 GOP primary and 10 years later dismissed Hutchison and her Bush-family supporters as “country-club Republicans.”
Now in Illinois we've learned to watch what our politicians and their cronies do, not what they say. So in 2010 Carney publicly states that Hutchison and the Bush's are 'country-club Republicans'. What took him so long to figure it out?
Furthermore, Perry's had his RINO moments. Nothing in this article indicates that either Perry or the man closest to him aren't RINOs either, just that they don't get along with the Bush factions of the Texas RINOs. Capiche?
Please don't write me back with more dribble. Read the article again and agian, Erik. It sums up the same each time.
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