Word: kraft
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...court state party leaders, Kraft has started a series of White House breakfasts where they get a chance for candid exchanges with Cabinet officials-and a chance to see the President. Most of the guests come away impressed. "Sure, it's an ego massage," says Scott. "But it pays off. It builds a relationship." Kraft and his staff of four also try to spot opportunities outside of the White House for Carter to make allies. "We're not out to politicize the White House," Kraft says, "but we've got to use the political resources we have...
Thus, when Carter last week went to Texas for a $ 1,000-a-couple Democratic fund-raising dinner in Houston, Kraft added speeches in the districts of two in fluential House members, James Wright and Jack Brooks, to Carter's schedule...
...Kraft also made certain that the Presi dent would have a bouquet of good news for his hosts, ensuring a welcome in a state where his popularity has been falling fast. Carter announced that Ellington Air Force Base, which was scheduled to be closed, will be taken over instead by NASA -thereby saving about 1,000 jobs in the Houston area. In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency will grant $6.4 million to expand a sewage treatment plant in Fort Worth...
Working closely with Democratic National Chairman John C. White, Kraft also plays the quiet troubleshooter in a variety of delicate situations. For instance, in Puerto Rico, rival factions for two years have been contending for control of the party apparatus. One of the issues is whether the island will have a presidential primary in 1980 or continue to select convention delegates by caucus. Kraft, who speaks Spanish well and has built a strong bond with the group backing primaries, helped to coax a "compromise" through the Democratic National Committee that favors the pro-Carter faction and im proves the prospects...
...Kraft is an old hand at local politics. Among his earliest memories as a child in Republican Noblesville, Ind., are the thumping defeats suffered by his Democratic relatives in campaigns for local of fice. After majoring in government at Dartmouth ('63) and spending two years in the Peace Corps building latrines and wells for Guatemalan villagers, Kraft became a kind of political nomad: to Washington for a time as a Peace Corps recruiter, to Mexico with the 1968 Olympics committee, to California for a bit part in Jesse Unruh's unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign, back to Indiana to manage...