Word: sasso
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...outthought and outfoxed their Democratic rivals. "The Republicans punch a button every four years, and all the old pros show up," says longtime Democratic wheelhorse Robert Strauss, chafing on the sidelines. "The Democrats bring out a bunch of bright, gracious people, who reinvent the wheel." Until the exiled John Sasso was summoned back on Labor Day weekend to become the de facto head of a triumvirate that includes campaign manager Susan Estrich and chairman Paul Brountas, the Dukakis camp was hobbled by lack of bold strategic planning. Even now, as Sasso belatedly tries to assemble a Democratic all-star squad...
...Still, Sasso has his moments in this dizzying game of parry-and-thrust politics. Last Thursday, for example, the Bush campaign plotted a lightning raid on Boston, where the Vice President would dramatize his law-and-order thematics by accepting the endorsement of a Republican-leaning police union. This was a classic maneuver of Baker's and his operations officer, campaign manager Lee Atwater, a tactical gambit to keep his opponent off balance on the eve of the presidential debate. Earlier this month, the Bush armada had sailed unmolested into Boston harbor and excoriated Dukakis over its polluted waters. This...
...back of the Dukakis plane last week to give ABC newsman Sam Donaldson a copy of a Doonesbury cartoon that lampooned Bush aide Atwater as dictating the message of the day to a network news director. Similarly, Estrich, who kept her title in the Dukakis campaign while yielding to Sasso responsibility for shaping the campaign's message, claims, "The campaign staff is far more important on the Republican side, where the pollsters and the media advisers are running things and where the Vice President seems willing to do anything they...
...Defense week" was part of a broader strategy to rescue the Democrat's floundering campaign. Since his rehabilitation on Labor Day weekend, John Sasso, Dukakis' closest adviser, has stolen a page from the Republicans' game plan. Campaign swings are now organized around a single coherent message and a compelling "visual" for the evening news...
Despite some missteps, the Dukakis campaign seemed to be awakening from its stupor. Some polls show him pulling even or slightly ahead once again. With the return of Sasso, a course of action for Dukakis' fall campaign is belatedly taking shape...