Things You Don't Talk About in Polite Company

That is not exactly how it went down. What happened was that someone leaked the Kinnock tape on Joe Biden and it took Biden out of the race. The Press then went on a spree looking for the culprits who leaked the tape and did Biden in-- they invariably reported rumors that it was Shrum, Caddell or me -- all from the Gephardt campaign. This thing got so crazy that Gephardt said that no one on his campaign had anything to do with it -- and if he found out that someone on his campaign did have something to do with it he would fire them. Bill Carrick who was Gephardt's campaign manager called all of us into his office handed each of us a quarter and told anyone who did it to go to a payphone and call him so that he could stop Gephardt from looking like he was a liar if it turned out that one of us actually did it. I went to the 7-11 and bought a pack of gum. The problem for Sasso (who I have always looked up to since our days together on the Kennedy campaign) was that Dukakis kept saying the same thing -- that no one on his campaign did it -- and if they did and he found out about it -- he would fire them. Evidently no one on the Dukakis campaign did the Bill Carrick "here's a quarter -- if anyone here knows why Michael should not be saying this -- go to a payphone and call me right now" trick -- Dukakis had been particularly sanctimonious about his campaign being far above that kind of "ugly" campaigning -- it was beneath him and his campaign -- and that he could be counted on to fire anyone who would stupe so low -- and it was a shame that Gephardt did not hold himself and his campaign to the same high standard. Then it turned out it was the Dukakis campaign and Sasso -- and Dukakis really didn't have much of a choice given everything that he had said. This was a much differenct situation than that faced by Edwards.

These are the kinds of really obscure facts that rattle around in your head if you work in enough Presidential campaigns.