'No Excuses' is fascinating read

NO EXCUSES: CONCESSIONS OF A SERIAL CAMPAIGNER, by Robert Shrum, Simon and Schuster, 521 pages, $28

All kinds of books about politics are coming out in this pre-election year. Some are hastily-written and not very good, some are good — and a few, such as Robert Shrum's "No Excuses," are very good.

Beginning with his college days, Shrum recalls his 30 years working with Democratic candidates, ranging from precinct workers to congressmen to governors and even the president.

When the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke just days before President Clinton was scheduled to give his State of the Union address, Shrum was helping to polish that speech.

In 1985, Shrum and his friend David Doak started their own "one-stop shop" consulting firm, integrating publicity, advertising and poll taking. Soon they were hired to run the campaigns of four Democrats in the 1986 elections.

First on the list was Barbara Mikulski, the 4-foot, 11-inch dynamo from Baltimore. She had a safe House seat but wanted to run for the Senate. "I'm short, plump, loud and ethnic," she told Shrum, "so how would you present me?"

"As short, plump, loud and ethnic," he replied. She hired him after the weekend.

In one ad, she said, "Sometimes I do raise my voice a little."

Bob Casey, who had lost the race for governor of Pennsylvania three times, had already been turned down by one pollster. (Casey's nickname was "the three-time loss from Holy Cross," where he had gone to college.) Though skeptical, Shrum and Doak accepted him as a challenge and created an optimistic slogan: "Bob Casey is coming back and so is Pennsylvania."

He was elected, though just barely.

A third client, Alan Cranston, had already served three terms from California in the U.S. Senate but was having a rough time — because he had foolishly dyed what little hair he had "near orange" and seemed old and "cadaverous."

Cranston squeaked by with a narrow win.

The hope for a clean sweep eluded them when their fourth client, David Walters, lost the Oklahoma governor's race by a 2 percent margin. Four years later, he won easily.

Shrum's book is mostly an insider's account of the events and personalities that dominated the news. He wrote it in longhand because he doesn't type or use a computer. (I suspect he does a lot of dictating.)

His accounts of the Gore and Kerry campaigns in 2000 and 2004 give readers a good peek at the national campaign process.

There are 16 pages of excellent pictures — most of them taken on the campaign trail.

To aspiring political operatives, Shrum offers this advice: "Remember — if you go into politics, you can get your heart broken every two years!"

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Parry Sorensen is a professor emeritus of communications at the University of Utah. E-mail: pdsorensen@aol.com