Ed Rollins, Republican strategist, joins political consultant hall of fame

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The ultimate endorsement of Ed Rollins from fellow political consultants came, he said, “totally out of the blue.” Last month, the veteran Republican strategist received a call from a friend, the pollster Ed Goeas, informing him that the American Association of Political Consultants planned to induct Rollins into its hall of fame.

“I didn’t know they had a hall of fame,” recalled Rollins.

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Like athletes and musicians, the notoriously knifey and ruthless class of political consultants recognize the giants among them. Since the hall of fame’s creation, in a year the association cannot remember, 18 consultants have sporadically been inducted. A Web site is in the works. An actual hall is not.

For now, honorees have to settle for an afternoon of accolades and war stories in a Washington hotel ballroom.

On Thursday morning, Rollins, 67, sported a dark suit, purple tie, black loafers and freshly trimmed white goatee in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel, the site of the 20th-annual Pollie Awards and conference. The basement conference space was festooned with programs and cardboard cutouts, featuring the motto “Cracking the Code of Today’s Politics” along with a tuxedo-clad James Bond-style character aiming an American flag.

Reclining in an upholstered chair, Rollins proudly spoke about his long career in politics: He served in the Nixon and Reagan administrations, managed Ronald Reagan’s 1984 landslide reelection campaign and led the presidential efforts of Jack Kemp, Ross Perot and Mike Huckabee. That last one, Rollins said, is somebody he’d probably work for again, if the former Arkansas governor and potential 2012 candidate so chose. Rollins fondly recalled the actor instincts of Reagan and the winning ways of Christine Todd Whitman as governor of New Jersey. (After that 1993 victory, Rollins bragged publicly about suppressing the black vote but later recanted.)

Rollins reminisced about how his candidate bounced Democratic Speaker Tom Foley from the House, insisting that “it was a clean campaign.” Asked about his dirtiest wins, he folded his hands and lowered his head in thought.

“I’m not deliberately going blank,” he murmured. He waited a little longer. None was forthcoming.

Had there been disappointments? Sure. The 2006 Senate run of Florida’s Katherine Harris “was a total disaster.” The Senate campaign for Michael Huffington in California “was fun, except for Arianna,” he said, referring to his backstage contretemps with the candidate’s then-wife Arianna Huffington.

For the most part, his survey of past colleagues and competitors saw many honorable friends and foes. “The only one I find to be a despicable human being is Roger Stone,” he said, referring to his former employee in the White House and one of the most divisive of political consultants. “He’s bad for the trade.”

(“I’m surprised they are inducting him into the hall of fame,” said Stone, “because prior to his figurehead position in Reagan’s ’84 campaign, he had never managed a statewide campaign. The man is essentially talentless.”)

 
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