Turning Point
After nearly everyone had written him off, John Kerry turned a limping campaign into a force that couldn't be beat. Here's How
That may be a lot to divine from a single story, but Vilsack was right: The passion for Dean was not nearly as strong in Iowa as it was outside. There was another sign even more foreboding. "A second warning signal for me about the Dean campaign was a holiday reception that we have every year," Vilsack said. "We invite the state workers from the capitol complex here to come into the office. We shake hands, there's punch and cookies, and the tree's up and they're streaming through here--they're all AFSCME people, you know--so I'm figuring 'OK, I'll see Dean buttons.' But then I see Edwards, Kerry, and Gephardt buttons! The point was that each person had a different button, [but] there was no consistency. I thought, 'That's interesting. The folks at the top (of AFSCME) had made a decision, but the folks at the bottom of the food chain didn't see it that way.' "
Vilsack felt liberated to move closer to Kerry. He couldn't endorse him once he had used AFSCME as an excuse, but he could help Kerry in important ways. One of the most important--and most secret--came in January, when Kerry was in desperate need of support. He was doing so poorly in state and national polls that his finance committee--his big fundraisers--was reporting that people were refusing to take their calls. The month before, Crawford had invited the finance committee to come to Des Moines in January. As a sign of their commitment to Kerry--Des Moines in January has two temperatures: cold and colder--about 50 of them showed up. The staff put on a dog-and-pony show for them, revealing internal polling indicating that Kerry was on the upswing and bragging about its list of Ones and Twos. Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry both spoke, but the real star was a surprise guest lined up by Crawford: Tom "I'm Officially Neutral" Vilsack. And this time he didn't care if Kerry people were seen with him. He met with the Kerry fundraisers in the state capitol. He couldn't tell them he was endorsing Kerry, of course, but he did the next best thing. "He gave a big smile and a wink and a nod," Crawford said. "He was very encouraging." At the end of a dinner, at the 801 Steak and Chop House, a supremely expensive restaurant in downtown Des Moines favored by anyone on an expense account (or trying to show he is not worried about money), Crawford told the finance committee: "Don't make fundraising calls for John Kerry today or tomorrow or the next day. But get your lists out so you can call on January 20 and get money for the winner of the Iowa caucuses!"
A few days later, the campaign delivered the clincher: Christie Vilsack would endorse Kerry. The campaign had been in constant touch with her and knew the signs were good. After she watched a tape of Kerry on Meet the Press, she told Crawford: "When I watch John Kerry, I feel like I am watching somebody who could be president of the United States." Crawford told her that this was the most important presidential election of their lifetimes, that Kerry had to win Iowa to win the presidency, and that she could help Kerry win Iowa. On January 10, nine days before the caucuses, Whouley, Norris, and Crawford went to Terrace Hill to make their final pitch. They had facts and figures, but they also knew political matters were not Christie Vilsack's only concern. "I think a very poignant moment," her husband recalled, "was when she said, 'This man makes me feel safe.' " Many saw--and were intended to see--Christie Vilsack's endorsement as the shadow endorsement of Tom Vilsack. "We talked about it beforehand," he said. "I mean, obviously she isn't going to do something that--you know, her first loyalty is, obviously, is to me--and she wouldn't do anything or want to do anything that would be hurtful and harmful to me. And if I had said, 'Gee honey, an endorsement's not really a good thing,' I'm sure that she would have given very serious consideration to not endorsing him." But Vilsack didn't say that.
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