POLITICO: “DUMB AND DUMBER” CAMPAIGN MANAGER SUNK ANGLE EFFORT
Monday, November 22nd, 2010The long knives are already dissecting Sharon Angle’s unsuccessful effort to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and campaign manager Terry Campbell seems be on the operating table.
“If they were filming a sequel to the movie ‘Dumb and Dumber,’ Terry Campbell would have a feature role," Chris LaCivita, political director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the campaign told Politico. "In the 20 years that I’ve been involved politially, I’ve never had the misfortune of working with such sheer, utter incompetence."
What emerges from Politico’s analysis is the picture of a cadre of long-term Angle loyalists suddenly finding themselves at odds with more experienced national Republican campaign veterans trying to tender advice.
Campbell, who had been with Angle for more than a decade, ran a two-man operation out of his living room in Columbia, Missouri, visiting Nevada only irregularly. He elected to have knee surgery shortly after Angle won the nomination, leaving the campaign in limbo just as Reid began a full-court press labeling the Tea Party novice as an "extremist."
In one incident that seems to typify the conflict, Campbell allegedly initiated a behind-the-scenes campaign to cancel a visit from 2008 Presidential candidate John McCain even as McCain was in the air on his way to Nevada. Only at the last minute did Angle consent to have McCain campaign on her behalf. In another flumox, Campbell allegedly called national Republican headquarters for help in deflecting a campaign visit from President Obama two days after the President had already made the appearance.
Although Campbell will probably be soon telling his side of the story, the real difficulty seems to be inherent in the meteoric rise of Tea Party candidates. Angle obviously shares some of the blame, sticking by her longtime advisors after it became clear they weren’t up to the job. Surprise winners such as Angle and Christine O’Donnell in Delaware were obviously unprepared for the national stage. But other Tea Party candidates have proved quite competent. Whether the trade-off was worth it won’t become clear until the 102nd Congress goes into action next January.