Kerry fires manager as presidential bid falters

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — Democrat John Kerry shook up his foundering presidential campaign Monday, firing his campaign manager as the Massachusetts senator, once the party's establishment candidate, struggled to make up ground on front-runner Howard Dean.

Trailing Dean in the current measures of the race — fund raising, opinion polls, crucial endorsements — Kerry replaced campaign manager Jim Jordan with Mary Beth Cahill, chief of staff to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

The move came less than three months before voters in Iowa participate in the first-in-the-nation caucuses.

"There's a new phase of the campaign now, and I wanted to change the dynamic," Kerry said during an Iowa campaign stop in which he tried to focus on veterans' issues but was repeatedly pressed about the staff shake-up. "Jim Jordan is a terrific person and has done a great job to date. I wanted to move this campaign forward and that's what we're doing."

The four-term senator entered the race with credentials that appealed to the Democratic elite — decorated Vietnam War veteran, party stalwart, wealthy spouse. But Kerry has been criticized for running his campaign too cautiously and for not doing much of the necessary nitty-gritty work, such as telephoning potential supporters and fine-tuning his message.

Democratic strategists have blamed Kerry more than his campaign, saying he is known to be a candidate who doesn't take advice well or likes to split his staff into competing camps. Indeed, his presidential campaign is layered with high-priced advisers, some of whom have duplicative roles and are roughly divided into two factions: those based in Washington, where Kerry has been a senator for 18 years, and others from his home town of Boston.

The departure of Jordan marks the second time in less than two months that a high-ranking official has left the Kerry camp. Communications director Chris Lehane resigned in September over differences in the direction of the campaign, and later signed on with rival Wesley Clark.

Jordan's firing raised the specter of other departures.

In a conference call Sunday night, Kerry enraged much of his staff by mispronouncing the name of a top staff member at least once, and could be heard eating as he broke the news of Jordan's firing, which he called a "one-day story." Stung by his attitude, several aides said they were considering quitting the campaign.

Two senior campaign officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision to oust Jordan was made jointly by Kerry and his campaign chairman, former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen.