Few people know how to maximize a political opportunity as well as Edward Campbell did. Campbell was a political and policy strategist who left an indelible mark on Iowa’s political landscape before he lost his long battle with cancer. He advised candidates like former President Bill Clinton, former Senator John Culver and Culver’s son and Iowa’s Governor Chet Culver. The public relations importance of a large semi-public event like the funeral of a prominent political figure would have been obvious to Campbell. The concept was, apparently, lost on Governor Culver who decided a fundraiser in Boston was acommitment not to be broken.
President Bill Clinton attended the funeral and gave, in his trademark style, a eulogy that connected with those attending and captured the intense personality those who knew Campbell loved and hated at the same time. The Governor’s wife, Mari Culver, gave a speech that, according to one Register report, “probably made a few in attendance regret that she’s not running for anything.” The Governor’s absence was conspicuous, to say the least. If this had been another funeral and Campbell was advising candidate Culver, I have little doubt that an emergency of state would have been deemed by Campbell as the only worthy excuse for Culver to miss the opportunity to rub shoulders with such Democratic notables.
Culver’s opting to travel out of state to raise money and, maybe, to spend time with his father who today was named interim director of Harvard University’s Institute of Politics is yet another in a string of odd travel/appearance choices made by the Governor. As the election year got into full swing, Culver decided to sneak away to Florida to run in his first triathlon. With a tough budget looming and the Legislature in session, the Governor went to visit Iowa troops in Iraq. And, a year or two back, he spent time at the Florida condo of a contributor leaving a sputtering spokesperson to make excuses as to where the Governor was and why the Governor had kept the trip a secret.
The Governor has not done anything illegal. It is his right to run a triathlon, to vacation, to visit Iowa’s brave servicemen and women, and to keep his commitments in Massachusetts instead of attending the Campbell funeral. All of these things are legal and visiting the troops, for one, may even be noble. But, when you look at the decisions together, you have to think a veteran strategist like Edward Campbell might be left scratching his head. Culver is in an uphill battle for re-election and he is making scheduling choices that make him look out-of-touch.
I did not know Edward Campbell personally, so I should not surmise to know what he would think. Even more important, as a guy who is married to a woman who is much more impressive than I am, I know what it is like to be upstaged by a spouse. I am fine with that, but having people wish your wife was on the ballot and that it would be OK if you stayed in Boston eating chowder is probably a bad idea for a candidate who is in a fight for his political life. You would think Culver would have taken the opportunity to pay tribute to his family’s longtime friend and political mentor and be visible at such an event. The people in Boston would have understood and it is likely Mr. Campbell might have been giving Culver an “atta boy” from the great beyond for having learned his political lessons so well.
This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.
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