I was sorting through my post-campaign emails and I found in the section 249-301 a letter from a dear friend who I met in the early days of the Howard Dean campaign. She's a brilliant and urbane woman whose demeanor of not panicking under pressure of course put her in the enviable position every time there was an event here in the greater LA area of being the go-to lady who ran the operation behind the scenes. I never see enough of her and now she's in London dammit but that's another story. But lo and behold, the answer to all this Carville vs Dean kerfluffle:
HOWARD DEAN HAS BEEN HIRED BY THE LABOUR PARTY TO ADVISE ON HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY WIN AN ELECTION.
And suddenly the whole thing is crystal-clear. Carville thinks Dean is poaching on HIS turf. I can see him fuming on the phone in some DC watering hole off "K" Street, whining to to mommy Matalin.........
"Worldwide famous successful election consultant? Hey, That's Me! What the F does F'ing Howard goddam Dean think he's doing scooping up MY cherries? I'M the election consultant! I got Bill Clinton elected! F 'ing Bill Clinton. What has Howard done?"
From the Guardian:
Here, Labour's mimicry of Democratic tactics helped clinch its 1997 landslide, thanks to key officials - including chief pollster Philip Gould and Margaret McDonagh, the general election coordinator - who had worked for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in 1992.
Those were people from Carville's organization.He was over there across the pond, toast of London, wined and dined by the Ones Who Mattered.
More:
Ms Blears believes Labour can benefit from the tactics used so effectively by the chairman of the Democratic national committee. "Part of [their new success] is politics, but it's also about organisation," she said.
She also said Labour could benefit from the so-called "viral" tactics Mr Dean helped pioneer. "Politics is increasingly local and decentralised ... People go to people they trust for word-of-mouth recommendations. It's about like-minded people talking, with concentric circles of campaigning, rather than about a political message from the centre."
Carville is spitting little pieces of pepper-stuffed olive, spraying a fine mist of cajun martini as he blusters.......
" Like minded people!!! HAH! This should be about POWER and it's CONCENTRATION , by exploiting larger financial entities searching for a friendly ear! WE don't need no stinkin' like minded people at their little teas! This is about brokering deals in the marble floored halls! Damn! I thought with a fancy building like they have, they would understand all politics is economic power-flexing, not goddam people -powered!"
So veddy sorry James, your services are no longer required.