Charlie Cook: Kerry “Outsources” Political Attacks

The Cook Political Report, by veteran observer Charlie Cook, is one of the nation’s most respected political newsletters. In “Kerry Team Needs Swifter Responses,” just published, Cook compares the Kerry campaign’s slow and ponderous response time to the “fast reaction time” of the 527s, mentioning specifically Americans Coming Together, the 527 run by Jim Jordan, Kerry’s former campaign manager.

Then comes what I suspect is an unintentional bombshell: “The Kerry campaign almost seems to do better,” Cook observes, “when it outsources tasks.”

Silly me. I thought that outsourcing political tasks to 527s was precisely the sort of co-ordination that was illegal.

UPDATE

Oops. Real Clear Politics beat me to this juicy morsel. Just goes to show you that you should read everything before writing anything. Oh, wait. Maybe it shows great minds work alike….

UPDATE II

In his convention coverage today Dana Milbank of the Washington Post provides a similar (and perhasp similarly unconscious) acknowledgement of the central role 527s are playing in the Democrats’ campaign.

After mentioning the Republican argument that their emphasis on national security reflects public recognition of its importance, Milbank writes that “Democrats, naturally, suspect a more sinister motive.”

And which Democrat does he quote? A party official or campaign operative? Well, perhaps. It was “Jim Jordan, Kerry’s former campaign manager who is advising an anti-Bush advertising effort.”