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Article: Shrum's Book Explains Much--But Not the Kerry Loss.
- Article from:
- The New York Observer (New York, NY)
- Article date:
- May 27, 2007
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 The New York Observer. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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For the record, it isn't until the fourth page of the introduction to his new memoir, No Excuses, that Robert Shrum begins making excuses.
On the subject of the "Shrum Curse"--a reference to his zero-for-eight record in White House contests--the now-retired consultant pleads that the first seven strikes against him don't really count.
He was, he reminds us, a mere speechwriter for George McGovern in 1972 and for Ted Kennedy in 1980, and anyway extenuating circumstances--Nixon dirty tricks in McGovern's case and the Iran hostage crisis for Mr. Kennedy--killed those campaigns, not Mr. Shrum. Then there was 1988, when he only guided a practically unknown ...