6/15/00 6:10 p.m.
Code Blue
Patient Gore needs intensive care.

By NR's Ramesh Ponnuru & John J. Miller, NR editors

he official line from Nashville is that Tony Coelho is out as Al Gore's campaign manager because of health problems. True enough — as long as the health issue concerned is understood to be the health of the Gore campaign. A Democratic presidential campaign is in sad shape when even the Washington Post and New York Times are piling on. Howard Kurtz, the Post's media reporter (who has somehow managed to become both the monitor and collective voice of the Washington press corps), has a front-pager today contrasting the confident, chummy style of the Bush campaign to the clumsiness of the Gore operation. Maureen Dowd, who always keeps up with the media herd, had a scathing column in yesterday's Times about Gore's meeting with the paper's editorial board. That kind of press coverage was not going to change without a major shake-up.

In the short term, Coelho's replacement by Commerce secretary William Daley will be disruptive-especially since Daley won't be joining the campaign for a month. Lower-level staff changes will presumably follow, with Daley allies (Rahm Emanuel?) likely to come on board. There are two mischievous spins about Coelho's ouster. The first is that Gore should explain why Donna Brazile wasn't promoted to campaign manager. (The Drudge Report quotes anonymous Gore staffers complaining that "Gore always defaults to the white boys!" Brazile is black, Daley white.) The second is that Coelho left the House just before the Democrats' empire there collapsed, and he's getting out while the getting's good this time too.

In private, however, Republicans wish Coelho were staying. He has a rich history of ethical transgressions, and ongoing criminal investigations threatened to make news in the fall. Most Republicans respect Daley's competence and political instincts as well.

DeLay vs. Gingrich
A Republican PAC affiliated with House majority whip Tom DeLay is running ads against congressmen Mike Forbes, the New York Republican-turned-Democrat. The ads point out that Forbes used to vote with Newt Gingrich — in fact, they morph his image into that of Gingrich. Only five years ago, Democrats were attacking Republicans the same way.

Added piquancy is provided by the fact that DeLay, who ascended to his position in the House Republican leadership by beating Gingrich's candidate, Bob Walker, has never had warm relations with the ex-speaker.

McCain vs. Daschle
The latest campaign-finance reform spat concerns the anonymity of donors to some political groups, called "527" groups after the section of the tax code that governs them. Republicans say that if these groups — such as the DeLay-affiliated group mentioned in the item above — have to publicize their donors and activities, so should labor unions, trial lawyers, and other groups. In today's Roll Call, John McCain is quoted calling his fellow Republicans' position a "classic cop-out" and a "scam." Tom Daschle, the Senate Democrats' leader, has indicated that he does not object to covering unions.