WALL STREET JOURNAL
October 16, 1995

Politics and Policy

By Michael K Frisby

Wahsington - Gearing up for 1996, President Clinton is fielding a motley crew of reelection strategists with reputations for shrewdness and ruthless tactics. A mainstay on his team, New Yorker Henry Sheinkopf, readily boasts, “I subscribe to terror.”

Already friends of the administration peg these mercenaries “The Nasty Boys.” Like Mr. Clinton, many of them are accused of lacking an ideological rudder, allowing them to roam from left to right on policies. Bill Lacy, as strategist for frontrunner Sen. Robert Dole of Kansas says he expects “a scorched earth campaign” from this group.

The Clinton gore re-election campaign will be headed by a prominent Democrat, perhaps a cabinet member who will set the grand blueprint with the president. But every campaign relies on its savvy strategists and creative media team to fire up voters and Mr. Clinton has loaded his campaign with the most aggressive war counselors available.

Led by Dick Morris of Connecticut, the president’s media message team also includes the New York polling firm Penn & Schoen Associates, Inc. It’s anchored by Washington veteran Robert Squier, a firebrand h8imself, who plays a calming role on this feisty group. “We are putting together an exciting creative team that can pick up where the strategic thinking leaves off.” Mr. Squier says.

It is Mr. Sheinkopf, a whiz at low-budget ads, who has raised the most eyebrows. A year ago he shared his trade secrets at a convention of political consultants and talked about using fear to win campaigns. Mr. Sheinkopf told the gathering, “Terror tends to work… because it is so easy to make people hate.”

Mr. Sheinkopf doesn’t deny the remarks, but says they are often taken out of context. He says he was addressing the strategy for a noncandidate campaign such as a referendum fight, in which the clients don’t have much money. “I’m tough, but I’m not ruthless,” he insists. “I fight for my clients.”

Elizabeth Holtzman will never forget when she first heard about Mr. Sheinkopf. The former New York congresswoman was running for Brooklyn district attorney in the 1980’s when, she says, her opponent fired off one of the “nastiest, sexist ads” she had ever heard. “The voice said, ‘She’s a very nice girl. I might like her for my daughter, but not district attorney,’” Ms. Holtzman recalls. She found out the spot was created by Mr. Sheinkopf.

Her reaction? She hired him for her next campaign.

“He’s very creative,” Ms. Holtzman says. And, like other members of this media team, he’ll bat for most anyone – as long as they are paying clients.

Mr. Sheinkopf’s claim to fame is hot radio spots for African-American candidates, many of whom are liberals. Yet he and his partner, Gerry Austin, in the wake of the riots after the Rodney King case, worked on behalf of the Los Angeles police officers fighting a reform measure on the ballot. Mr. Morris, a longtime associate of Mr. Clinton has worked for conservative Republicans such as Mississippi Senator Trent Lott. Mark Penn, a partner in Penn & Schoen, worked for maverick Ross Perot in 1992 and the firm does considerable work for corporations.

Thus far, the consultants, with Mr. Morris calling the shots, have helped bring Mr. Clinton back to life after last fall’s GOP sweep. “They have presented a disciplined and controlled message,” Democratic strategist Robert Beckel. “It has put the president back in the dance.

Push for Budget Plan
Even Mr. Morris’s critics tip their hats to his pushing the president to offer up a balanced budget plan last spring, a move that embittered other Democrats. Mr. Morris argued it would gain the president credibility on economic issues, opening the door for him to now hammer the GOP for squeezing Medicare and education funds without appearing to be a tax-and-spend Democrat.

Mr. Sheinkopf was the architect of this summer’s unprecedented ad campaign – 16 months before the election – portraying Mr. Clinton as tough on crime. Using his connections, the former New York City police officer lined up cops around the country for the ads.

Inside the White House, the acceptance of Mr. Morris and his crew is growing, but there are still spats. The team wanted to attack the GOP with Medicare ads in early September, but was blunted by Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes, who doesn’t want to get caught short on campaign cash next summer. By late September, however, the media team got the go-ahead.

Aides say that while Mr. Clinton values his hired guns, the president is comfortable with Mr. Ickes controlling the purse strings and taking charge of relations with the Democratic bast – unions, liberals and minority voters.

The team may prepare one more media hit before January; it is likely to be either a package on the budget battle or about Mr. Clinton cherishing the same values as average Americans.

Some Democrats privately raise concerns about whether this crew is ready for prime time, however. Mr. Morris for one is described by many as brilliant but has his share of bloopers. Last year, he produced an ad for Tennessee GOP gubernatorial candidate Don Sundquist that people still talk about. It was a high-tech TV spot with a car driving in a video game, crashing into barriers that the candidate was against taxes.

“It didn’t have the desired effect,” concedes Ray Pohlman, the campaign manager. But in the next breath he says Mr. Morris is fabulous at deciphering polling data and crafting a message. And Mr. Sundquist won the election.

The strategizing on the Clinton campaign goes right down to bringing in an outside expert to do the video work. Mr. Morris, who was responsible for hiring Mr. Sheinkopf, also recruited Marius Penczner, who runs a video production house in Memphis, Tenn. Mr. Penczner whom Mr. Morris met on the Sundquist campaign, is known more for country music videos than political work. Mr. Clinton has marveled at the quality of Mr. Penczner’s Oval Office video shots, which are in most of the president’s TV spots.

Controversial Poll

Mr. Morris also picked Penn & Schoen as the campaign pollsters, virtually ousting old Clinton hand Stan Greenburg. Their results, however are sometimes controversial. Their poll put then Ohio Rep. David Mann up 28 points in his Democratic primary fightin against State Sen. William Bowen. A short time later, fund raising letters went to political action committees, citing Mr. Mann’s lead. He won the race, but by two percentage points. “We laughed at that poll,” recalls Mr. Bowen. “It was just part of their tactical strategy to show him way in front; that wasn’t the case.

The poll was five months before the election and undecided voters later turned against the incumbent says Douglas Schoen. “We always thought it would be close,” he says, noting a poll closer to the election showed a tighter contest.

The new Clinton campaign team raises concerns among presidential scholars. While applauding their cleverness, experts search for the intellectual thrust. Mr. Clinton likes to be compared to President Truman, who overcame a hostile Congress to win re-election. But Fred Greenstein a Princeton University historian notes Truman’s comeback was fueled by the intellectual energy of Clark Clifford and others, not image-=makers. And that, he says is missing from a Clinton team searching for the best political answer.

“Maybe you need someone with substantive fiber to give you advice.’ Mr. Greenstein says.