Campaigns & Elections' Politics - February 2008 - (Page 18) Movers&Shakers D Democratic strategist Anita Dunn has seen it all, from clueless candidates to cynical media coverage. But this year, she sees new things on the horizon. Politics: Anita, what’s changed the most in recent years about the way campaigns are run? Dunn: I’m always amused by historians saying, much more cynical relationship. I look at these folks in Iowa who get interviewed and they all sound like political consultants. They say things like, “The reason she’s doing this is to appeal to a certain group.” And that’s where we’ve done a disservice— we’ve made the process the story and made the participants in the process judge the campaign by the technical pieces of it. Politics: You’re saying it’s always about the motive behind what a candidate has said or done? Dunn: Exactly. I was at a panel hosted by Anita Dunn is a partner in the political communications firm Squier Knapp Dunn. She has held such high-profile posts as adviser to former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and communications director for the presidential campaign of Bill Bradley. “Oh the process, oh the process…” Andrew Jackson felt that the campaign run against him actually caused his wife’s death—the whisper campaign that she had not been fully divorced before she took up with him. It’s not as if campaigns suddenly discovered negative campaigning. It’s not as though big raucous crowds were invented by the Internet. I think what has changed about campaigns in the last 20 or 25 years is the relationship between the campaigns and the press and the public. It’s changed from a relationship of somewhat mutual respect to a FactCheck.org where news directors from local TV stations said their fact-checking segments are the piece of political news that their viewers respond to most. These are segments that say, in effect, “We’re going to show you how the candidates are lying to you and manipulating you.” I think at some point you’ve got to say to yourself, these candidates are people who have chosen to enter public service and they feel that they’ve got something to say and things they want to do. So give them a chance to actually say that. Politics: How important is it for you, as a consultant, to have a firm sense of why your candidate is running and to feel you’re in sync with each other? Dunn: It makes it much easier to work with a candidate when they start off with strong principles: Here’s why I’m running, here’s who I am, and let’s figure out how to work together. It’s my job as a consultant to work with them. 18 Politics February 2008 PHOTO: JORDAN LIEBERMAN http://FactCheck.org
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