Campaign Manager in Spotlight as Kerry Becomes Frontrunner

[Feanorcurufinwe]

Mary Beth Cahill is not often mentioned on the Internet's endless political blogs and is hardly a fixture on talk radio. But the 49-year-old native of Dorchester, Mass., who grew up the oldest of six children of working-class Irish parents, has quietly become the behind-the-scenes star of the 2004 Democratic presidential campaign.

In November, when she was brought in to take over John F. Kerry's campaign, the Massachusetts senator's presidential bid was failing. Today, Kerry is the frontrunner. And insiders are wondering whether Cahill might take him all the way to the White House. "She's done an absolutely superb job," said political strategist Jim Jordan, the man Kerry fired to make room for Cahill. "She's a fine manager. It was a brilliant hire."

<snip>

Acquaintances often mention loyalty when talking about Cahill — her own loyalty to liberal Democratic causes, their loyalty to her. "In Massachusetts, loyalty is in the DNA," said Michael Powell, chief of staff to former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III (D-Mass.). "There's a deep sense of loyalty, almost bordering on tribalism."

One veteran of that Leahy campaign in 1986 recalls that about a month before the election, professional politicos loyal to Cahill just started showing up in Vermont. "We called them the Hessians," he said. "It was just a professional band of followers who showed up because of Mary Beth."

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-cahill29jan29,1,1363731.story?coll=la-home-politics

[molly]

1. This deserves a kick

:kick:

[NewYorkerfromMass]

2. She's the Boss

Mary Beth really truned this around.
And what an accolade from the man who's head rolled, Jim Jordan: "It was a brilliant hire."

[Feanorcurufinwe]

3. Kerry really know how to run a campaign.

You gotta surround yourself with the right people.