Bob Shrum was brooding over a rough profile in the Style section of The Washington Post. Shrum generally got good press, in part because he was a source and friend to so many top political journalists. But this article went on about the "Shrum Curse," his 0-for-7 record in presidential races, and revealed that Kerry staffers wanted to make up T shirts reading break the shrum curse. The story dwelled on gritty details, like Shrum's habit of parking his Nicorette gum on the rim of Diet Coke cans. Shrum was wounded and wanted to find the campaign mole. He recovered after a few days, but his friends wondered if he might not disengage from the campaign and fade into the background.
Now, with Mr. Kerry's campaign battling for survival in New Hampshire and embroiled in turmoil and infighting — his press secretary and deputy finance director walked out the door on Tuesday, following the abrupt dismissal of his campaign manager — the talk is less about Mr. Shrum's gifts and more about what some are acidly describing, in this toxic environment, as the Shrum curse.
As prominent and well-traveled a figure as Mr. Shrum is — alter ego to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, consultant to four presidential candidates and many senators — there is one thing he has never accomplished: advising a successful presidential campaign.
Instead, he has become known as a polarizing figure who dominates and divides a staff, a relentless player of inside politics who will sometimes steamroll colleagues to win an argument, people who have worked with him for years say.
"You have probably never heard of Robert Shrum. He's the most sought-after Democratic strategist right now, and today we find out that he's signed on with Kerry. ABC's The Note refers to this as winning the Shrummy or the Shrum Primary. Last year, Joel Klein wrote a piece prophesying the importance. Why the excitement?
"First, there's a soap opera quality to the choice, since Shrum is friendly with everyone in the field. He's worked for Richard A. Gephardt, John Edwards and Kerry. 'He has close personal relationships with a lot of people involved in this process... And it is very difficult to sort that out, and deal with the very high profile atmospherics of all this. There are friendships and relationships at stake here, and he takes that very seriously,' a close friend of Shrum told The Note.
"Second, Shrum has a Kennedy fetish. He's famous for his 'I'm On Your Side' message -- but lately he's veered towards what Joe Klein calls 'an aggressive, pessimistic, and unsubtle strain of economic populism.' We can expect him to work hard on Kerry's charisma deficit, which is seen as the biggest weakness. In so doing, Shrum will change Kerry's formula, which he's used successfully thus far. It's also possible that Kerry can't be molded in the Shrum image.
"The Edwards campaign has picked up on this, referring to this as an irresponsible 'vanity hire.' Sour grapes, of course, but the argument has merit.
"Third, Shrum doesn't have a great record on these races. He made his name in state races, but his candidates have a tendency to drop out during primaries or lose elections outright."
