Fifteen years ago, veteran political operatives Ed Rollins, a Republican, and Hamilton Jordan, a Democrat, joined forces as co-campaign managers of Ross Perot’s bid for president.
This year, Rollins and Jordan may find themselves in opposing camps.
Rollins has signed on as the national campaign chairman of Mike Huckabee’s surging presidential campaign, while Jordan is one of the big names behind Unity08, a bid to “elect a president and vice president who will reunite America” according to their website.
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Unity08 holds a forum this week at the University of Oklahoma to address the partisan gridlock that has stalled legislative initiatives, judicial appointments and other issues in Washington.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who recently changed his party affiliation from Republican to independent, increased speculation about his presidential aspirations when he told reporters that he plans to attend the forum.
“But this is not a Bloomberg meeting. I think it’s a shot across the bow of both parties, saying, ‘You’d better start focusing on the big issues,’ ” Jordan told the Atlanta Constitution and Journal. “I don’t expect the parties or candidates to turn on a dime. But I think it represents a deep-seated frustration with the parties and the current slate of candidates and the lack of real national debate,” he said.
Republican attendees include Sen. Chuck Nagel, former Sen. John Danforth, former New Jersey governor and EPA secretary Christine Todd Whitman and former GOP party chairman Bill Brock. Former senators Sam Nunn, David L. Boren (currently president of the university where the forum will be held) and Charles S. Robb, as well as former presidential candidate Gary Hart round out the roster of Democrats who are planning to attend, according to the Washington Post.
Rollins and Huckabee are likely to be spending their weekend campaigning in New Hampshire for Tuesday’s primary, working hard to join battle with each other in the months to come.
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1 Comments
#1. Richard Winger 01.06.2008
The Norman, Oklahoma meeting was not called by Unity08. Furthermore, Unity08 seems to be giving up. It deliberately did not file the required notice with the Texas Secretary of State by the January 2, 2008 deadline, saying that it intends to qualify as a party in Texas in 2008.
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