REDEFINING BOTH INNER AND CIRCLE:

Kerry's Inner Circle Expands: Campaign Team Encompasses a Growing Army of Policy Advisers (Jonathan Weisman, July 14, 2004, Washington Post)

From a tightknit group of experienced advisers, John F. Kerry's presidential campaign has grown exponentially in recent months to include a cast literally of thousands, making it difficult to manage an increasingly unwieldy policy apparatus.

The campaign now includes 37 separate domestic policy councils and 27 foreign policy groups, each with scores of members. The justice policy task force alone includes 195 members. The environmental group is roughly the same size, as is the agriculture and rural development council. Kerry counts more than 200 economists as his advisers.

In contrast, President Bush's campaign policy shop is a no-frills affair.

Unfortunately, this is a pretty reliable indicator of what kind of president Mr. Kerry would be: awful.

Mr. Bush ran his entire 2000 campaign with an inner circle of 5 or 6 people and has run the country with only a few more.

The difference is that if you know who you are you don't need to ask thousands of people what you should do. If you have ideas about what needs to be done your staff is largely incidental--they just implement. If you can delegate authority and trust people you let them solicit outside advice--you don't need to hear from every Tom, Dick, and Harry yourself. Mr. Kerry looks to be a Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton in the making.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 14, 2004 5:34 PM