2004 Election: Inside The War Rooms

(6 of 14)

Before the campaign was over, Bush would travel more with McCain than with any other politician he was not kin to. Just after McCain squelched the rampant rumors that he might be John Kerry's running mate, the Bush team put him on the road with the President, making the Senator's mere presence a powerful political endorsement for the incumbent. McCain helped draw crucial moderate G.O.P. voters and independents to events where they could be registered and courted by the campaign. He let direct mail go out under his name to swing states. He recorded radio spots in New Hampshire, where he pasted Bush in the primaries in 2000, and agreed at the last minute to stump there the weekend before the election. At times, McCain's television appearances were scary duck-and-cover drills for the Bush message team, as McCain was perfectly capable of breaking ranks with the President on issues ranging from Iraq reconstruction to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. On the eve of the first debate, campaign communications director Nicolle Devenish drew the line: McCain was forbidden to go into the postdebate spin sessions and give praise to both sides. That would be a loss for Bush. "People see you as the referee," she said. "We need you to be for us." McCain grumbled about getting instruction. But he knew what he needed to do. By the third debate, Bush asked McCain to sit in the audience in his line of sight for moral support. But it was as much to be seen by the audience as to be seen by Bush.

After the debates, McCain amended his early public promise not to criticize his friend and fellow Vietnam veteran Kerry, noting the candidate's inconsistencies and what McCain considers an unrealistic view of the powers of diplomacy. At the campaign's request, he even made a second visit to the press cabin of Air Force One to cry foul at Kerry's mention of the Vice President's gay daughter. "He was there whenever we needed him," said a Bush staff member days before the election, grateful that the alliance had held, "and thankfully, nobody lost any limbs."

KERRY

Return of the Clinton Team

You could count on Bill Clinton to run late, even when he was awaiting heart surgery. Hours after word spread that Clinton was being rushed to the hospital for emergency bypass surgery, Kerry telephoned him to wish him luck, and Clinton, alarmed at the drift of Kerry's campaign, suggested they make some time over the weekend to have a serious talk. The two made the connection around 10 p.m. the next day, a Saturday, an hour behind schedule. By the time they finished--Clinton mostly talking and Kerry mostly listening--it was nearly midnight. One message stuck. "If you're the issue in this campaign, you lose," Clinton told Kerry. "If he's the issue in this campaign, you win. Stay in his face."

Predictably, news of the call was all over the papers by Monday. And just as predictably, Kerry was furious. Four years before, Clinton had been shunned by his own Vice President, and more than a few Democrats believe that hurt Gore. But even so, there were dangers in flying too close to the Sun King now, not the least of which was how a gray presence like Kerry could disappear in the glare. There were those who believed that Clinton's real interest was less in helping Kerry win in 2004 than in clearing the way for Hillary to run in 2008.