Daley is Gore's new campaign manager

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, JUNE 16. In what is seen as a second major shake-up of the Democratic Presidential campaign, the Vice-President, Mr. Al Gore has brought in the Commerce Secretary, Mr. William Daley, to run his national campaign replacing Mr. Tony Coelho, who has ostensibly stepped down on health reasons. Mr. Daley will be stepping down from the Cabinet and there is no word yet from the White House as to who his replacement will be.

Mr. Daley is a household name in Chicago, being the son of the former Mayor of that city, Richard Daley and brother of the city's present Mayor. Mr. Daley, in the process of accepting the invitation to run Mr. Gore's campaign, will no longer be in the run for the Vice- Presidential slot for which he was being considered. The outgoing campaign manager, Mr. Coelho, has been attributed with having turned around the campaign, bringing the much-needed discipline among the people working for the Vice- President. But Mr. Coelho's style of running the national show brought criticism from within the Gore camp. Also, questions of his past financial dealings have been raised.

``I'm happy with the way we turned things around. I'm pleased with the progress we made. But I just hit a wall. My health comes first,'' remarked Mr.Coelho, who is now being treated for an inflamed colon. The Bush campaign, while wishing Mr. Coelho well, could not resist taking a dig at the decision. ``I wonder whether naming a new chairman involves yet another reinvention of the Gore campaign,'' remarked the Texas Governor's spokeswoman, Ms. Karen Hughes.

Mr. Daley is no stranger to political campaigns and conventions. In fact, Mr. Gore reportedly first chose Mr. Daley as his campaign chairman but the Commerce Secretary informed the Vice- President that he was not quite ready to quit the Clinton administration. The Vice-President is said to have offered Mr. Daley the job again on Wednesday but did not speak to the President till the next day. The fact that Mr. Daley has everything it takes to be national chairman of the Gore campaign does not mean it is going to be smooth sailing for the next four months. Mr. Daley has indicated that he may bring some of his own loyalists into the campaign. Hopefully, this process will be smooth as a total revamp can be unsettling given that there are only four months to go before the November showdown.

Staff problems are not at the top of Mr. Gore's worry as he brings in Mr. Daley. A critical component of the Clinton administration's free trade policies and instrumental in the deals with Mexico and China, Mr. Daley is a red rag to the Labour unions amd top Labour leaders, who have as expected criticised the appointment. The spokesman of the Teamsters' Union said the naming of Mr. Daley was a ``slap in the face''. Mr. John Sweeny, president of the AFL-CIO, the labour federation which has endorsed the Vice-President, is reportedly unhappy with the appointment, saying that Mr. Daley's role in the NAFTA and the China Bill ``put him squarely on the opposite side of working families''.

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