Editorial: Influence to match their egos

Tuesday, Nov. 30, 1999 | 9:10 a.m.

Campaign advisers wield tremendous influence in politics today. They take endless polls and conduct focus groups to gauge the electorate's mood. While there is nothing wrong with knowing the public's pulse, it is disheartening that politicians often discard their own views and replace them with poll-tested messages crafted by these image consultants. Packaging a candidate the way Madison Avenue pitches a new product isn't a recent phenomenon, but it seems that the practice has become all encompassing.

Some candidates have become little more than blank canvasses, as they abdicate to hired guns the responsibility of establishing policies. So it shouldn't be too surprising, then, that recent stories actually questioned whether the two Democratic presidential contenders -- Vice President Al Gore and former Sen. Bill Bradley -- were paying enough attention to their advisers. Astonishment even was expressed that presidential hopefuls would rely heavily on their own instincts -- and the advice of family members -- to make decisions.

Melinda Henneberger wrote a front page story in the Nov. 20 New York Times about the growing influence of Gore's daughter, Karenna Gore Schiff. Henneberger reported that many former advisers viewed Gore's reliance on family members and his own political compass as something of a liability. "When it comes down to the real decisions? It's Karenna, Tipper and his gut," one disaffected former consultant told Henneberger. "He loves his family more than he wants to be president, and that's admirable, but it's also his Achilles' heel."

The next day in the New York Times, James Dao wrote a story about Gore's rival, Bradley, that was headlined: "Bradley is in full control, and some friends fret." Dao reported the following: "Strong willed and prickly, he is known to follow his instincts more than his staff, to resist the very advice he pays his advisers to give. Some political consultants have said they turned down offers to work for him because they thought he would not listen to them. And even his current crop of advisers occasionally expresses frustration. 'His attitude is, 'I'm going to do it my way, and if it doesn't work, I'll get on with my life,' a former Senate aide to Bradley said. 'That could cut both ways.' "

Some current advisers for both Gore and Bradley did speak favorably about their bosses' willingness to go with their own views, but the former advisers' candor -- some might say sour grapes -- is illuminating. To hear the ex-aides tell it, it is a character flaw for a candidate to have his own ideas. It is dispiriting that the state of politics is such today that a candidate would be considered weak for making a decision without market-testing it in advance. While a political adviser may feel jilted by a candidate who rejects his advice, independent thinking is exactly what is most likely to resonate with a public already cynical with slickly packaged candidates.