wrong today,” says Joe Lockhart, for-merWhite House press secretary forBill Clinton. “She has been a moderateDemocratic senator since she walked in,not a crazy liberal.” Adds Dan McGinn, a business con-sultant and specialist in public image-making: “Giuliani is trying to walk the line by saying, ‘I am who I am—just look at the whole record.’ Hillary is trying tosay, ‘I’m not who you think I am.’”
Barack Obama.
Last year, Illinois Sen.Barack Obama was barely known as afreshman senator, but since then, his risehas been meteoric, thanks in part to thepublic desire for a fresh face. Obama hasemerged as Clinton’s main competitor inthe polls, billing himself as a new-gen-eration leader and an African-American who has wide appeal. “Obama is saying,“I am not like these other folks,’” saysMcGinn, and Obama advisers argue thatthe less he acts like a Washington politi-cian, the better he will do.“He hasn’t been in national politics long enough to have acquired a brand,and his past doesn’t hem him in,” saysa Democratic strategist not working forany campaign. “He has campaigned oncharacter and charisma. ... What peo-ple are uncertain of is if he has theknowledge to make decisions day afterday as president. And he’s never run any-thing other than his Senate office.”
John Edwards.
In 2004, John Edwards was a sunny optimist who rarely attackedhis opponents. As a presidential candi-date, he called for reducing the disparities between rich and poor. But he lost thenomination and became John Kerry’s vicepresidential running mate, requiring himto take a back seat in every way. Now, aftertwo years out of elective office, the formerNorth Carolina senator says he has a bet-ter understanding of what the country wants, and he is running from the left, asa strong anti-Iraq war Democrat who ad- vocates “transformational change.”“He’s changed the most of anyone inthe Democratic field,” says a senior party strategist. “On the positive side, here’sthe guy who had time to think and figureout how to address the issues, but on thenegative side, here’s the guy who decid-ed he had to get to where the party wantsits candidates to be for 2008.”More broadly, the political recalibra-tions really have just begun. When can-didates win their parties’ nominations,they tend to rebrand themselves yetagain, moving toward the center to cap-ture as many voters as possible in thegeneral election. “We’ll need a wiring di-agram,” says Baker, “to figure out wherethey are.”
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ttorney General Alberto Gonzalesstood behind a crimson-drapedtable inside a packed hearing roomon Capitol Hill last week, righthand raised, swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It was the sort of political theater that Washington specializes in, and there weresupporting actors and bit players galore.Senators of both parties, angered by Gon-zales’s firing of eight U.S. attorneys, pre-pared to deliver a tongue-lashing. Pro-testers garbed in orange and pink lined thehearing room, while two dozen photogra-phers clicked away in unison. In the midstof the throng was Gonzales, reinforced by a battalion of staffers armed with fact-filled binders, but nevertheless looking likethe loneliest man in Washington.Perception is reality here, at least toa point. Gonzales, who followed his men-tor, President GeorgeW. Bush fromTexas, has been an outsider throughouthis tenure in Washington, both as WhiteHouse counsel and attorney general; hehas little political capital at the Capitol,perhaps less now than ever. Indeed, hehas generated enormous criticism for hisrole in crafting Bush’s “war on terror”policies. But at Thursday’s hearing be-fore the Senate Judiciary Committee, de-spite blistering criticism from Republi-cans and Democrats alike, it seemedGonzales might just survive, at least fora few more days, for one reason alone:In this high-stakes game of politicalpoker, Gonzales holds the most power-ful card of all, his boss, who—at least onpaper—continued to provide what one White House official described as “un- wavering” support. “That says to me thatthe president’s loyalty,” says former Jus-tice Department spokesman Mark Corallo, “is the single most importantfactor here.”But for how long? Gonzales had goneto the hearing, hat in hand, with a mis-sion impossible: to assuage angry sen-ators who feel hoodwinked by the many shifting explanations for the mass pros-
Nation & World
THE EMBATTLEDATTORNEY GENERAL
Gonzales still has the president’s support, for now
34
U.S.NEWS & WORLD REPORT • WWW.USNEWS.COM • APRIL 30, 2007
Gonzales issworn in prior to his testimony.
JIM LO SCALZO FOR
USN&WR
By Chitra Ragavan
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