Is There a Shakeup at Camp Kerry?

This is a partial transcript of "Special Report With Brit Hume," Sept. 7, 2004, that has been edited for clarity.

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BRIT HUME, HOST: At this stage of the political season nothing one campaign does goes unnoticed by the other. The Kerry campaign keeps saying that there's been no shakeup. But there are some new, and in the political world, very well known faces there. So you ask who's got a scorecard to sort it all out?

Well, who better than our friend the columnist, professor and veteran of Democratic campaigns, Fox News contributor Susan Estrich?

SUSAN ESTRICH, FOX NEWS ANALYST: Hi, Brit. I have my scorecard.

(LAUGHTER)

HUME: All right. Tell me now, Mary Beth and George Schrum, both veterans of many years in the Kennedy organization...

ESTRICH: Still there.

HUME: Now, they're still in place in the Kerry camp, right?

ESTRICH: Absolutely right. They are still in place. Still in charge -- these are people who happen to be very close friends of mine. But they've been under assault a few times before. And each time they have come out on top and helped John Kerry get this nomination. And I believe will help him win this election.

So, some former friends of mine, sometimes friends of mine, sometimes very good Democrats, last week during the Republican convention sort of launched this rumor mill going. And there was a piece in The Wall Street Journal and a big flurry on CNN saying, "Oh, my goodness, Paul Begala is going to come in and take over the Kerry campaign."

Not true.

HUME: Paul Begala, well known, associated with the Clinton organization. And of course...

ESTRICH: Right, and partner of James Carville.

HUME: And partner of James Carville, another Clinton guy. Both of them, of course, CNN guys. What about Begala? Is he going to have a role or not?

ESTRICH: Well, he will be remaining at CNN.

HUME: OK.

ESTRICH: That's a big scoop. What they're doing now, what you have to do in this business, is they're going to create some kind of a forum so that all of the Democratic consultants, who are not on the payroll, will be able to contribute their ideas to the campaign without doing it through The Wall Street Journal and CNN. So that while Paul and James will not be on the campaign payroll, they will have a way to contribute without doing it through the press. Which is very helpful like using the telephone, which would be much better than doing it through the media. And that's what happened last week.

HUME: Do I take it, Susan, that you believe that Messrs. Begala and Carville were talking out of school, so to speak in a way that was not helpful to the campaign? Or do you think they wanted to get...

ESTRICH: Definitely not helpful.

HUME: Well, did they want to get into the campaign or what?

ESTRICH: Well, I think there was certainly a push last week to get maybe Mr. Begala into the campaign, and he obviously has some great talents. He's with Mr. Clinton this week at his bedside. But you know, these kinds of stories are just not helpful. And I think this week they're being pushed by Republicans. But what I can say last week in the sort of greenhouse of the convention, they were being pushed by Democrats. I'll admit that. This week they're coming from Republicans.

HUME: Well, let me ask you about a couple of people. Veteran Democratic -- Massachusetts Democratic political sage and former Dukakis advisor John Sasso?

ESTRICH: Great buddy of mine, we grew up together.

HUME: Great buddy of yours, of course. What about John Sasso? What's he going to be up to?

ESTRICH: He's going on the plane. This is one of the toughest, not so enviable jobs. But what John is going to do...

HUME: What do you do on the plane?

ESTRICH: You manage the candidate.

HUME: Oh, boy.

ESTRICH: His job is to not run the campaign, as some people were rumoring, and not to take over for Mary Beth. Mary Beth, John and myself, we all grew up together in Massachusetts. John's job is going to be to sit next to the candidate on the plane and to enforce discipline on the candidate. That's something Bob Schrum did a lot during the primaries. But you can't do what Bob has to do in the general, which is to do the advertisements, the message, the speeches and also be running the candidate. So John is going to jump on the plane from now through the election and run the candidate. Mike Whouley, who...

HUME: Now, stop for a second. Let's talk about Mike Whouley. Mike Whouley is fabled. He's a not-much-publicized guy. But he's a fabled organizer. Correct?

ESTRICH: He is. I love Mike Whouley. He's been around forever.

HUME: So what's he going to do?

ESTRICH: He's going to the Democratic National Committee. He will take over what had basically been John Sasso's job, but is really suited to Whouley just as Sasso is a grownup. John is a few years older than me. He's closer in age to Kerry. He can run the candidate. What Whouley will do, Whouley will likely be going to the DNC, this is what I'm hearing today. And he'll run the organization, the country from the DNC.

HUME: So you talked about...

ESTRICH: Sasso on the plane, Whouley at the DNC.

HUME: Now, you talked about Sasso working at the DNC. Now he's going to move out and get on the airplane and Whouley coming in. Now, one name you haven't mentioned is Terry McAuliffe. He's still the chairman of the party, isn't he?

ESTRICH: Right. He's the money guy.

HUME: So what's his role?

ESTRICH: He raises money, money and more money. No one in the world does more money than Terry.

HUME: I know. But for the longest time, he raised the money but he also ran the party headquarters. I take it he's not going to be running the party headquarters anymore.

ESTRICH: Well, he'll run the party headquarters in the sense of he's the chairman of the party. But what Terry doesn't do, what Whouley does do is organize people on the ground, make sure we're getting the blacks out here and the Hispanics out here. And where are the organizers in New Mexico? And do we have to move people from Nevada to New Mexico?

HUME: So, Susan...

ESTRICH: ...and who has Nader on and off balance and that sort of thing.

HUME: Last question, real quick. Am I to believe now that there's been all of this additional strength, but nobody's lost any face and nobody's lost any authority?

ESTRICH: That's what I believe. I talked to Stephanie Cutter today, whose name I should add; the girls are doing a great job. There was a little taste of the boys going after the girls. The girls are fine.

HUME: All right. Susan, thanks a million.

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