Whatever was or was not discussed within the McCain campaign, or just between McCain and Mike Murphy, about the possibility of bringing Murphy on board, one thing strikes me as crystal clear: that possibility died the moment Bill Kristol filed his column for yesterday’s New York Times. The column, entiled “So Where’s Murphy?”, was so fawning in its depiction of Murphy as the only strategist alive who could possibly save McCain’s campaign that I briefly imagined, upon reading it, that it might actually have been meant to sabotage, rather than promote, its subject. But then I remembered that Kristol often seems to be writing some version of the same story — about how the McCain campaign, or the Republicans, or both, can fix what ails them and prevail against the odds in November (I count nine Kristol columns largely devoted to this theme, out of 34 total). More likely, then, is that for Kristol, Murphy was simply this week’s wrapping on an old package.
Which is not to say McCain can’t win. He most definitely can. And it’s also not to say that Murphy isn’t a terrific strategist. He is. But the Kristol column reminded some long-serving McCain loyalists of an article by Howard Kurtz that ran on the front page of the Washington Post* on March 12, 2000, right after McCain succumbed to Bush in that year’s primary battle. The article featured Murphy, was based on numerous interviews with him and portrayed him as the singular maestro behind the McCain magic in 2000. Other principals whose influence was equal to or in some cases greater than Murphy’s – John Weaver, Mark Salter, Rick Davis — were accorded secondary status. McCain himself reportedly laughed at the article and Murphy’s inflated status within it: “That’s just Murphy being Murphy,” he said. But the article didn’t sit well with some 2000 veterans.
*Note: Unfortunately, the Post seems to charge a premium for articles more than three years old. (Will Brauchli change that? I hope so!) Meanwhile, The link is here for those who either have a Post account or want to buy the article a la carte.