-Caveat Lector- http://www.sunday- times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/02/11/stinwenws02020.html February 11 2001 BRITAIN Blair sets Ragin' Cajun on Hague Tony Allen-Mills and Tom Rhodes JAMES CARVILLE, the notorious "Ragin' Cajun" who engineered Bill Clinton's first presidential victory in 1992, is back on the warpath - and this time he wants the scalp of William Hague. Carville is recruiting a team of fellow Americans to help new Labour take on the Tories in the general election expected this spring. Under Carville's command, a small army of strategists, spin doctors, pollsters and speechwriters is preparing to apply the most modern American election techniques to help Tony Blair secure his second term of office. The team is in regular contact with Blair's advisers, while Stan Greenberg, Carville's partner, is a frequent visitor to London. "After the loss of Al Gore over here, they all want to make sure Blair wins big," said one Democrat aide who was approached about a possible job last week. The Americans' involvement means the British general election is likely to take on the characteristics of an international grudge match. Carville and his Democrat friends are peeved that the Republicans, the Tories' sister party, managed to install George W Bush in the White House in last year's presidential race. They see Hague as a disciple of Bush's "compassionate conservatism". Despite a series of embarrassing setbacks for other candidates he has recently advised, the Louisiana-born Carville, 56, is still widely regarded as one of the foremost practitioners of political marketing - the art of selling a candidate to a diverse and sometimes hostile electorate. Best known for establishing the so-called "war room" that launched the Clinton campaign to victory from meagre beginnings in Little Rock, Arkansas, Carville's website boasts that he has "managed more political campaigns than anyone in history". He knows Blair personally and has worked before in Britain. Blair and Gordon Brown forged links with the Democrats during a joint trip to America in the early 1990s, and have always respected the professionalism of the "backroom boys" of American politics. The two men also realised that a close working relationship with Clinton's staffers could help cement the Anglo-American "special relationship" if they ever came to power. Blair's pollster, Philip Gould, shares the enthusiasm of his master. In 1995 he persuaded his friend Greenberg, widely regarded as the father of modern polling techniques, to offer Blair free advice. Greenberg was concerned that new Labour should ensure it did not talk about issues such as gay rights. "Voters think that a serious party that represents the ordinary person focuses on things that matter to people in their lives," Greenberg wrote in a memo to the Labour leader. The stream of Greenberg advice never stopped coming. In a memo from Gould to Blair, leaked last year, the pollster quoted Greenberg approvingly. Feeding Blair's "anti-complacency" obsession, Greenberg warned that the Labour poll lead by election day could be as low as five points. In 1997 Carville and Greenberg established an international consulting firm with Gould - Gould Greenberg Carville GOP - based in London. Another Carville partner assisting Labour will be Robert Shrum. He is regarded as a brilliant speechwriter, who crafted Senator Ted Kennedy's eulogy for John F Kennedy Jr after the senator's nephew was killed in a plane crash two years ago. Shrum is known to have forged a close relationship with both Brown and Ed Miliband, a senior Treasury adviser. One of Blair's inner circle said: "The Tories steal many of their ideas from the Republicans and it is natural for us to learn from those who have first-hand experience in combating those ideas." Campaign work has already begun in New York where Sidney Blumenthal, a former New Yorker magazine writer who became an adviser to Clinton, is preparing an election memorandum for Blair, whom he knows well. Last week Blumenthal, who has just signed a £440,000 contract to write a book about his White House experiences, would only say: "Tony Blair is my friend and I hope he wins." For Carville and several of his partners, the Blair campaign offers a prospect of easy glory after a run of crushing losses in America, Israel and Mexico. Carville was still foaming in a television debate last week that Bush "got in by losing the election" and that "Al Gore won Florida" - the state that was awarded to Bush after a long dispute over uncounted ballots. In Israel's recent election campaign, Greenberg and Shrum were hired to help prime minister Ehud Barak, but found no way of reversing the tide of support for Ariel Sharon. In Mexico, the Carville team advised Francisco Labastida Ochoa, the presidential candidate for the ruling PRI party, who was trounced last year. William Hague must be hoping that Carville's run of bad luck continues. Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd. This service is provided on Times Newspapers' -- Years ago, fairy tales all began with "Once upon a time..." Now we know they all begin with "If I am elected." --Carolyn Warner (1930- ) <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! 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