Monday, November 22, 2004

Pejman finds a pearl, again

Redstate || Collaborative Republicanism for the Masses: "Amid the cabinet reshuffling, little attention has been paid to the appointment of Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman as Republican National Committee chairman. But Mehlman's appointment could turn out to be as significant for our politics as Condoleezza Rice's is likely to be for foreign policy. "

This guy has a nose for stuff that looks important.
I'm impressed.
This time the name of Ken Mehlman is mentioned. Just because I never heard of him doesn't mean he isn't important. Well he is, and I have now. He's an (the?) architect of the president's successful reelection campaign. What he accomplished is worth noting and remembering.

Mehlman's great achievement was to create a largely volunteer organization of 1.4 million people who turned out the vote in counties big and small for Bush. He managed this task the way Rudolph Giuliani managed the New York City Police Department: by requiring metrics--numerical goals, validated by independent parties--to measure the work being done every week. This enabled the Bush organization to plug holes and to provide psychic rewards for those doing good work. No one (including Giuliani himself) thought Giuliani could cut crime in half in New York City; very few thought that Mehlman could produce 10 million new votes for Bush. But Giuliani did it, and so did Mehlman.

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