Rising Star

by David Garrow

  “There were people in the caucus who went with Dan Hynes, and Emil stuck it to them every day,” Jones’s press secretary Cindy Huebner remembered. Jones made a special effort to neutralize the duo who had been Barack’s worst detractors since he arrived in Springfield. “There’s only two members that I had conversations with, and that was Hendon and Trotter,” Jones explained. “‘It wouldn’t be wise for me as the leader to put you guys in the position of power and authority if you cannot support this man over some silly, petty jealousy,’” Jones told them, directly threatening their Senate positions. “I said, ‘On my watch, it’s not going to happen.’” Hendon buckled. “I knew the president would like me a whole lot more if I went along with his wishes.”

  Jones was equally direct with lobbyists. ComEd’s Frank Clark and John Hooker heard Jones’s message clearly. “Look, Frank, he’s absolutely my guy. I totally support him,” Jones told Clark, and Clark responded accordingly. “I did everything I could to get corporate support for him from both ComEd and Exelon and others” in order to comply with Jones’s request. Lobbyist John Kelly was as close to Jones as almost anyone, yet as a member of Chicago’s white Irish tribe, Kelly’s support for Hynes was unquestionable. Jones, however, “made people think twice about supporting other people,” Kelly explained. “He did that with lobbyists, he did that with people in Springfield. . . . It became clear that almost everything he was going to do, it was going to have some angle on getting Obama elected.” Whenever someone spoke to Emil about a pending bill, Jones asked, “Where are you on the U.S. Senate race? I want to support people’s initiatives who support my initiatives.” Concerning Barack, “to say that he was invested I think is an understatement,” Kelly observed.

  Jones was not shy about acknowledging the forceful role he played. Jones felt obliged to live up to Barack’s observation that as Senate president he possessed “the power to make a United States senator.” Jones described it as “reverse psychology.” Barack “put the onus on me to prove that I had the power to do it. . . . He put it on me to prove that I could do it.” Barack “needed someone who had enough influence to be able to help clear the path. Otherwise he would never have gotten out of the backfield.”

  By late January 2004, with the end-of-the-month FEC reporting deadline for fourth-quarter 2003 contributions approaching, Barack’s campaign knew that it would have the funds necessary for Chicagoland TV ads in the run-up to March 16. Obama for Illinois’s quarterly total of $827,000 had been helped by a last-minute $10,000 check from Tony Rezko’s friend Elie “Lee” Maloof, a sum that Rezko secretly—and illegally—reimbursed, but that $827,000 figure eclipsed supposed front-runner Dan Hynes’s $708,000 total by more than $100,000. More important, Jim Cauley’s insistent spending discipline meant that Obama for Illinois now had $1,789,000 on hand.

  Barack’s long-standing friendship with Rezko reflected a comfort level that was not shared by campaign staffers who dealt with Tony. “I was told to meet with him” right after arriving in Chicago, Jim Cauley remembered, and “I met him more than a few” times. “Rezko was a little weird,” Cauley thought, and he knew that “some of that . . . money is a little dirty,” but Barack pressed him. “I was told to meet with him more, and I told him I wouldn’t, because I had a very keen sense of people and that guy made me nervous from day one.” If anyone “says he wasn’t around” Barack’s campaign, “he’s full of shit,” Cauley emphasized.

  Dan Shomon acknowledged that Rezko “was very, very important on fund-raising in ’04, putting checks together,” and finance director Claire Serdiuk realized that Rezko did not understand how different the FEC’s requirements were from Illinois’s lax standards. Tony “was coming from a system that had no laws, no limits” to one “where there were a lot of laws and a lot of limits,” Claire explained. “We were very, very fortunate, because we were running a federal campaign, and there were very tight rules. There were several times when I had to go back and tell Tony, ‘I’m not accepting this check.’” For example, the millionaires’ amendment’s increased limits did not include corporate or partnership funds. “I told Barack, ‘We have to deny this check,’ and Barack would call Tony and say, ‘We have to deny this check—we cannot accept this on the federal,’” Claire recalled. “It happened a few times in the primary,” and as Maloof’s $10,000 illustrated, it could have happened more.

  David Mendell’s Tribune profile lauded Barack as “without a doubt the most dynamic speaker” and “the most commanding presence” in the Democratic field, but those plaudits were not what generated angry reactions that Saturday morning. Instead it was a vignette Mendell used at the end of his article:

  There’s no doubt Obama can draw attention. Shortly after signing autographs at the recent forum, Obama grabbed the hand of Christina Hynes, the wife of one of his opponents, Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes, and then kissed her cheek, prompting her to flush and smile broadly.

  “He has a smooth personality, sometimes a little too smooth,” said his campaign manager, Jim Cauley. “He’s still young, and we have a ways to go, but he has the potential to be something very special in this business.”

  Barack was furious at Jimmy for calling him “a little too smooth,” as Cauley heard from his “thin-skinned” candidate in a 6:00 A.M. telephone call. But Barack’s anger was mild compared to the reaction in Dan Hynes’s camp. “We went apeshit,” communications director Chris Mather remembered, over Mendell’s explicit insinuation that Christina Hynes “might have the hots for another candidate.” Christina blushed easily and was “not a public person,” and campaign manager Matt Hynes called Mendell at home to complain vociferously about the Tribune’s “total cheap shot,” threatening to end Mendell’s access to Dan unless the passage was removed from later editions. Mendell hesitated. “It happened. I was standing right there,” and “if anything, I had toned down Mrs. Hynes’s overt response to Obama.” Indeed, Mendell had expressed surprise. “I said to Senator Obama, ‘Do you really think it’s wise to kiss the other candidates’ wives?’ He said, ‘We’ve known each other a long time. It’s been a long trail.’” Mendell called Tribune political editor Bob Secter, and they agreed to remove Christina Hynes’s name while retaining the description, with Barack now kissing “a supporter of one of his opponents.”48

  On Sunday afternoon, Barack was back in Evanston to speak to about three hundred people at city Democrats’ endorsement meeting. Dan Hynes and Gery Chico spoke as well, but Barack “just blew everybody away,” his old Miner Barnhill golf partner Whit Soule thought, and a remarkable 90 percent of the crowd voted to support Barack. The next afternoon at 1:00 P.M., Barack had his meeting with the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board, and David Axelrod, again in Mexico, e-mailed Barack to reiterate “the overall arguments to stress.” Number one, “you offer more than words. You offer a record of legislative accomplishment which uniquely prepares you for this job. You are a proven, skilled legislator.” David also wanted Barack to present himself as “a Paul Simon Democrat” who represented independence and change. “Look for opportunities to demonstrate your willingness to buck party orthodoxy,” Axelrod advised. “Health care is our best issue, and you should hit it hard,” stressing that “real health care reform requires the ability to stand up to the power of the insurance and drug lobbies.”

  On Monday afternoon, Barack told the Tribune journalists that “what I bring to this race is a track record of accomplishment, the ability to work with others and the ability to frame the debate in a way that does not simply polarize but brings people together around a set of common goals.” On Wednesday, Barack was set to appear at the City Club of Chicago’s noontime candidates’ forum, and ahead of a Tuesday-afternoon practice session, Axelrod and John Kupper prepared a memo calling for Barack to reiterate “the independence/fighting special interests/pragmatic accomplishments theme.” They wanted Barack to emphasize “our overarching message that he has a seven-year legislative record of standing up to the special interests in Springfiel
d.” Barack “needs to be forceful and passionate,” displaying “some outrage and indignation” while using “short, declarative sentences rather than professorial soliloquies.” The City Club event turned out to be a largely sedate affair, but Barack did declare that “we have a crisis in our democracy right now, and so much of it has to do with the use and abuse of money in the political process.” Republican Sun-Times columnist Tom Roeser called Barack “the winner” as he “trumped his opponents with an understated charisma,” and on the same page, Steve Neal wrote that the late Paul Simon had viewed Barack “as the rising star of the Illinois Democratic Party.”49

  Political insiders were highly attentive as the primary race entered its final six weeks, but that was not true for most citizens, as Chicagoland’s major suburban paper documented. “A random survey last week by Daily Herald reporters and editors found 87 percent of 162 suburban residents could not name even one Senate candidate from either party.” Among Democrats, “millionaire businessman Blair Hull of Chicago netted 11 responses,” thanks to his robust TV advertising, and “nine people answered state Senator Barack Obama of Chicago, with full credit given to two who could remember only that his name rhymed with Osama.” Capitol Fax’s Rich Miller reported that a new WBBM automated poll showed Dan Hynes leading Hull and Barack by one point each, at 20–19–19, with Maria Pappas at 18, again reflecting an uptick for Hull. By late January, Paul Harstad for Barack’s campaign and Hull’s own pollsters had results of their first 2004 tracking surveys. Harstad’s results showed Hynes at 22 percent and Barack at 16, with Pappas and Hull trailing at 15 and 11 percent, respectively. However, 66 percent of Democratic voters still did not know Barack, a surprising increase of 2 points since Harstad’s July 2003 poll. Among black voters, Barack’s don’t-knows remained at 46 percent, and the 34 percent supporting him was static as well, even though Barack’s favorability total had risen from 37 to 45 percent. After Barack’s issue positions and legislative achievements were presented, he picked up an additional 23 percent support, showing that his existing 16 percent share had the potential to jump to 39 once more voters knew about him.

  Anna Bennett and Mark Blumenthal’s late January poll, the first of ten tracking surveys they would conduct for Hull’s campaign prior to mid-March, showed Barack with 35 percent overall name recognition and about 45 percent African American support, ten points higher than Harstad’s number from a week earlier. That gave Barack a narrow 19–18–16–13 lead over Hynes, Hull, and Pappas, with Hynes and Hull in a tight duel among nonliberal white voters. But after respondents heard long descriptions of each of the candidates, Barack’s support jumped to 29 percent while Hull rose to 19 and Hynes slipped a point to 17.

  Barack was “extraordinarily saddened” and “heartbroken” to learn that Beverly Criglar, his Springfield secretary from 1997 through 1999, had died suddenly of a heart attack at age sixty-three. Barack’s focus turned toward preparing for a February 4 statewide radio debate, but he told the Associated Press that “the undocumented workers currently in this country and woven into the fabric of our lives are not simply strangers to be deported.” At the radio debate, Barack stressed his opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq as “a dumb war” and pressed Dan Hynes over his support of it while highlighting his state Senate experience. “The legislature is full of tough calls. It’s not like an administrative job—it requires tough calls.” But Hynes’s campaign faced a greater challenge than radio-only criticism from Barack. As Capitol Fax’s Rich Miller highlighted, Hynes’s focus on promoting his candidacy via downstate television ads was going nowhere. Whenever a Hynes ad debuted, Blair Hull was “up in a couple of days with his own TV spot on the same issue, but with four or five times the money—effectively drowning out Hynes’ message.”50

  Building good footage from which to craft Barack’s TV ads, David Axelrod and John Kupper booked studio interviews with several people who knew Barack well and scheduled a variety of events where they could film him on Saturday, February 7. Mike Pfleger assured David that “Barack is the kind of character that ten years from now, people will be just as proud with, because he is consistent with who he is.” Jan Schakowsky said her endorsement of Barack was based on his opposition to the war and his insistence that he “would have been a no vote on the Patriot Act,” because “we need someone who’s going to stand up and defend civil liberties.”

  On Friday, February 6, John Kupper sat in a Near North Side studio with first Jeremiah Wright and then Michelle Obama. Wright told Kupper that Barack “is a dreamer,” a “combination of intelligence . . . and soul.” From “almost twenty years of knowing him,” Wright was certain that Barack “is very much interested . . . in health care for all” and especially “child health care, because his daughter has asthma.” Jerry endorsed Barack as fervently as he knew how. “There are only a few people in life, and Barack is one of them, that you feel privileged to have been blessed to share space and time with in your lifetime.”

  Michelle spoke of her husband even more personally. “I think there is a part of him that’s trying to live up to the image that he has of what the father he didn’t know would have wanted him to be,” she explained. “I think Barack grew up hearing these wonderful stories about his father and how imposing and committed and serious he was, and I think there is an element to his determination and passion that is trying to live up to the reputation of the father he didn’t know . . . to live up to this dream.”

  Michelle volunteered that “Barack’s role in government is our sacrifice to the bigger picture,” and that “our spiritual life and our spiritual development is key. . . . We are fortunate to come from such a strong church home, with a wonderful pastor like Reverend Wright, who not only has the spiritual message, but he ties that into the bigger picture: politics and just sort of civil rights, and there’s a whole range of education and awareness that happens at our church that sort of speaks to us.”

  Michelle emphasized the importance of Trinity. “Church, religion, family—those are the things that ground us and help Barack and I make it through what will be a challenging several months and a challenging lifetime if we continue to do—and we plan to continue to do—this work in the future.” Michelle said that Barack “is truly gifted for this work,” and “we’re doing this because, as I talked to him before we entered this race, that this race has to be about telling the truth,” as could be done by “somebody with his gifts.”

  Some of what Michelle told Kupper was not fit for any television ad. “I think down in Springfield there are frustrations with the lack of leadership that we see in our own party,” because “the party’s kind of lost its way. I hate to say it, but we’ve talked about this on many occasions.” Michelle knew that the U.S. Senate is “a millionaire’s club,” but “the bottom line is that we’re just not moving in the right direction morally as a country, and I think that he’s very passionate about playing a role.” Her regard for her husband was astonishing. “It’s almost like he’s too good to be true, and people don’t believe he can be that perfect.” It was true that “he doesn’t put his dishes in the sink, and I have to remind him to take the garbage out, and he doesn’t put his shoes up, and I could go on about his imperfections. . . . So he is a man, but for a man, he’s pretty right on point.”

  Barack’s long Saturday, February 7, began with a 10:00 A.M. rally at Rogers Park’s Heartland Cafe. His remarks recycled familiar themes, such as how “particularly here in Illinois . . . politics operates as a business instead of a mission.” Several hours of video and still photo shoots with a variety of people—young and old, black and white, male and female—at an Evanston nonprofit preceded another rally at nearby Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church. “There are very few people in Springfield who actually take the time to study the issues, to craft legislation, who hold hearings, who get community input,” Barack told the crowd. More relaxed than earlier, he complained that “I’m having to put up with consultants, and I’m having to put up with not having any
lunch,” but he vowed that in January 2005, “we’re gonna start changing this country.”

  A brief fund-raiser was followed by Barack sitting down on camera with David Axelrod at a donor’s lakefront home. To an earlier interviewer, Barack had seconded Michelle’s statement that “I can’t imagine a better church home than Trinity,” but with Axelrod, a somewhat tired Barack spoke almost exclusively about his Springfield résumé, like KidCare and Illinois’s EITC. “I’m enough of a pragmatist that I know how to reach across the aisle, and I know how to work on a bipartisan basis to make things happen.” He said that “somebody who’s able to speak out with honesty and conviction over time can gather allies and eventually persuade a majority, and so that’s a role that I welcome, and it’s a role that I’ve always felt comfortable with down in Springfield.” Barack similarly declared, “I haven’t been afraid to stand up to some of the most powerful interests, whether it was the drug companies or utility companies or gaming interests down in Springfield, and say, ‘This doesn’t make sense.’” Only at the end did the interview turn personal. Barack regretted “all the time that I’m spending away from” his daughters, but “thanks largely to my wife, they are thriving and happy.” Barack mentioned that “I struggle with my wife during tax time to figure out how we’re going to meet our obligations,” but he was deeply troubled that the Senate campaign had all but removed him from his daughters’ daily lives. He tried to avoid thinking about it, but when Valerie Jarrett asked him how he was holding up as the race intensified, Barack responded with rare emotion: “I don’t want to be the kind of father I had.”51