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Tweaking the candidates It's All a Confidence GameBy Rick Horowitz Al doesn't have it. Naomi says he needs it -- he won't get where he wants to go without it. George has a bit too much of it. If he's not careful, someone could take advantage of it and sneak up on him. That would make it harder for him to get where he wants to go. John has so much of it, some people who ought to be with him are turning away. That might make it impossible for him to get where he wants to go. Call it confidence. Call it arrogance. And call me anytime you want to pay me $15,000 a month to tell you which shirt goes with which tie. That's what Al's been paying Naomi -- 15 big ones every month, recently reduced to a paltry 5,000 per -- for fashion instruction and much, much more. Naomi being Naomi Wolf, feminist author and secret-until-just-the-other-day campaign adviser. Al being Al Gore, Vice President of the United States, grateful recipient of campaign advice -- and beta male. Not good enough, says Naomi Wolf (according, that is, to the latest issue of Time magazine.) Beta males are subordinate types. Helpers. Voters don't want beta males as their president. They want alpha males. Leaders. Men who stand out. If Al wants to be president, Naomi's been telling him, if he wants to run at the head of the pack, he has to transform himself into an alpha male. Aggressive. Dynamic. And ditch the blue suits. Don't you wish you were a campaign adviser? George's problem is a different one. George -- this would be George W. Bush, Front-runner -- has been floating along for months on a cloud of big bucks and comforting polls. He hasn't seen the need to mix it up with the other folks who want the same nomination he wants. And he always has an excuse for his absence. He's already booked an event somewhere else. His wife is being honored the very same night. (He has to shampoo his hair. His dog ate his briefing book....) All well and good for George -- except in New Hampshire. They like the personal approach. They want to see and hear and touch and sniff their presidential candidates. A candidate starts taking them for granted -- even a candidate with big bucks and comforting polls -- New Hampshire voters tend to get their granite up. They don't like overconfidence. Suddenly the polls are looking less comforting. Now, you could argue that George's aversion to town meetings and debates is as much about nerves as it is about nerve. He's still deep in the learning process, after all; the last thing he needs is to rise from his debate stool some evening and offer a hearty greeting to all those "New Hampshiroids." Anyway: George's advisers are now saying he will debate this year, yes indeed, and in the meantime, you betcha, he'll be spending all sorts of time in New Hampshire. Not that he was overconfident before, mind you, but just to make sure. He doesn't want to give John the slightest opening. John, meanwhile, has his own problems. John -- this would be John McCain, Maverick -- has been getting glowing notices from the national press as he's tried to narrow the gap with George. But then a recent story in The New York Times: Some prominent people in his very own Arizona, in his very own party, don't like his attitude. He doesn't suffer fools gladly, they say -- or gently. And it's not just fools, they suggest. John doesn't like being crossed by anyone. Then an editorial in his state's largest (and frequently supportive) paper, The Arizona Republic. It offers further examples of his "volcanic" temper, says he's running "dangerously close to sanctimony" and wonders whether he has "the temperament, and the political approach and skills, we want in the next president of the United States." John denies he flies off the handle. His advisers say his anger -- not that there's all that much of it, of course -- is driven by "passion." Passion is a good thing, they insist. What choice do they have? So: John's advisers want him to keep it cool. Al's advisers want him to crank it hot. George's advisers want him to show he cares. They're calibrating confidence. And the makeovers continue. Posted 11/2/99. You
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Rick Horowitz