Word: mckinnons
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Like many other Democrats, Mark McKinnon for a long time had little use for George W. Bush. A media consultant based in Austin, Texas, McKinnon had toiled for Democratic candidates for years, and once he nearly took a job with Bill Clinton. In 1990 he helped Ann Richards become Texas Governor, and he regarded her successor with partisan suspicion. But McKinnon, 44, was won over after a dinner with Bush in 1997. He went to work producing the TV ads for the Governor's landslide re-election campaign in 1998, and is now running Bush's media campaign for President...
Bush's TV ads, which have begun airing in New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina, showcase McKinnon's fondness for retro black-and-white footage and jittery, MTV-style editing. McKinnon took an unconventional path to his current job: as a teenager, he ran away to Nashville, Tenn., with dreams of becoming a country-music star; he wrote songs under Kris Kristofferson's tutelage and almost had one of his numbers recorded by Elvis Presley. "But Elvis passed away," says McKinnon ruefully. On making the switch from music to politics, he observes, "I turned to show business for ugly people...
...Bush sat in his suite with his longtime friend and finance chairman Don Evans, finance director Jack Oliver and media adviser Mark McKinnon, he kept chewing on the question. The calls went out, to chief strategist Karl Rove and communications director Karen Hughes. It was one thing to refuse to talk about drugs--but this was about White House security and double standards. "Imagine the ad our opponents could make if we didn't answer the question," said an adviser. "'As President, George W. Bush would maintain a double standard when it comes to illegal drug use by White House...
...holds the title of campaign manager and that Karen Hughes, the communications director, is closer to Bush personally. But Rove is the intellectual and strategic heart of the campaign, the one adviser to Bush who, insiders say, is indispensable. "Karl plays politics like Bobby Fischer plays chess," says Mark McKinnon, Bush's top media adviser, a former Democrat. "He looks at the whole board and thinks 20 moves ahead...
...consider offing Ben, who is also idly condescending to pursue his insecure secretary (Mary-Louise Parker). When they do kinda-not-accidentally bump Ben off (a balcony), the sarcastic, haggard Sgt. Pompano (Ellen DeGeneres) turns up, with a Dudley Do-Right (and, of course, God-fearing) colleague, Billings (Ray McKinnon...