Pat Is Back

"He is a friend and adviser, a very talented man, very intelligent, very creative, possibly a genius." The high praise came from Gary Hart. The object of his admiration: Pat Caddell, 33, the former whiz-kid pollster who has become a key figure in the Hart campaign since coming aboard as "an informal adviser" in January.

For Caddell, joining Hart is a homecoming. When Hart was managing George McGovern's campaign in 1972, he asked Caddell, then a precocious Harvard senior majoring in government, to do the candidate's polling.

Caddell went on to become a trusted adviser for Jimmy Carter. Sometimes his advice went badly...