A RATHER UNRELIABLE SOURCE (via Kevin Whited):

Bush's past brings Barnes back on stage (Dave Montgomery, Dallas-Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

In the late 1960s, when Ben Barnes was embarking on a Texas political career that seemed filled with limitless promise, admirers predicted that he would one day bask in the national spotlight. Lyndon Johnson proclaimed him a future president.

More than three decades later, Barnes, now a successful lobbyist and top Democratic fund-raiser, is engulfed in national exposure -- though not in the way his admirers envisioned. [...]

Barnes' role in the National Guard imbroglio has raised a fundamental question for millions of Americans unfamiliar with his early days at the center of power in Austin: Who is Ben Barnes?

The answer is essentially a rise-fall-and-rebound story in which Barnes has stubbornly persevered to become one of the best-connected lobbyists in Washington and a close friend and fund-raiser of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. He is increasingly mentioned as a potential Cabinet member if Kerry wins the presidency.

"He's the kind of guy who can take a punch, get on the mat, lay down there for five or six seconds and come back swinging with both hands," said Waco insurance entrepreneur Bernard Rapoport, another major Democratic fund-raiser and one of Barnes' best friends.

The son of a peanut farmer in De Leon in Central Texas, Barnes entered politics in 1960 when Texas was a Democratic-dominated state, winning a seat in the state House of Representatives. He was 22, and his youth, drive and ambition quickly captured the attention of the state's political leaders, including future President Johnson and John Connally, who served as governor through much of the 1960s.

Barnes became the state's youngest House speaker at 26 and, three years later, the state's youngest lieutenant governor. He seemed destined to become governor until a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation embroiled state government in what became known as the Sharpstown stock fraud scandal.

The scandal, Texas' equivalent of Watergate, stemmed from stock deals that a Houston banker offered to lawmakers in exchange for favorable banking legislation. Scores of politicians were driven from office. [...]

By all appearances, Barnes may be at the top of his game. At 66, he is president of Entrecorp, a lobbying firm with offices in Washington and Austin and a list of clients that includes Fort Worth-based American Airlines, SBC Communications and Bridgestone/ Firestone.

Although Barnes hasn't held public office in more than three decades, he is so well-known among Democratic senators that Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota once jokingly described him as an ex-officio member.

Grateful Democratic candidates, including Kerry, regard him as one of the most skilled fund-raisers in the nation. He has raised more than $100,000 for the Kerry campaign.

Barnes met Kerry nearly a decade ago and has since become a friend and golf buddy. Barnes bought a house near Kerry in Nantucket, Mass.

So the key source for Mr. Rather's story was a guy who gets a cabinet slot if his neighbor John Kerry wins?

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 11, 2004 12:15 AM