Stuart Spencer
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| Stuart Spencer | |||
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| Basic facts | |||
| Current Campaign: | John Kasich 2016 presidential | ||
| Role: | Advisor | ||
| Location: | Palm Springs, Calif. | ||
| Affiliation: | Republican | ||
| Education: | California State University, Los Angeles | ||
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Stuart Spencer is an advisor for John Kasich's 2016 presidential campaign.[1]
Career
Early career
After graduating from California State University in Los Angeles, Stuart Spencer began his political career with the Young Republicans in California and working as a volunteer for Pat Hillings, a California congressman. He also spent time working as the field director for the Los Angeles County Committee before working full-time in campaign consulting.[2]
Spencer is widely regarded as one of the first professional campaign consultants in American politics. His firm, Spencer-Roberts, began in California in 1960. Speaking with the Los Angeles Times, consultant Sal Russo noted the firm's influence: "Bill Roberts and Stu Spencer were certainly the fathers of political consulting in California and made it a full-time profession and a respected profession at the same time."[3] In a 2008 interview, Spencer claimed that the business of political consulting in California was an outgrowth of the state's initiative process, saying,[2]
| “ | There was a firm in San Francisco started by Clem Whittaker and Leone Baxter, a man and wife, called Whittaker and Baxter. Their big client was Union Pacific. They got involved very heavily in the initiative process in the state. A candidate here and candidate there, that sort of thing – and that was in the 30s – that’s how far back it goes. Then there was a period of time where nobody was doing that. Individual lawyers would run campaigns, or political junkies, or things of this nature. Then two guys by the name of Bill Ross and Herb Baus, in 1958 roughly, started a firm which was the same in LA as Whittaker and Baxter. It was just a mirror of them. One came out of the Chamber of Commerce and one was a newspaper writer-type guy. Then in 1960 Bill Roberts and I formed Spencer-Roberts and our model was these two companies.[4] | ” |
Ronald Reagan gubernatorial campaigns
According to the Los Angeles Times, Ronald Reagan decided to hire Spencer-Roberts to run his 1966 gubernatorial campaign after "the pair ran a vicious campaign against Barry Goldwater, falling just shy of an upset" for Nelson Rockefeller. Spencer told the paper that Goldwater himself recommended Spencer-Roberts to Reagan, saying that if he ran in California, that was the firm he would hire.[5] During both of Reagan's gubernatorial campaigns, Spencer-Roberts was in charge of media and messaging. "Spencer-Roberts helped Reagan win in 1966 and again in 1970--using a sophisticated and expensive media-driven campaign for the sometimes less-than-precise stump style of their candidate," the Los Angeles Times wrote.[6] Spencer explained in an interview with the Times how he and Roberts focused on presenting Reagan as a "citizen-politician":[6]
| “ | After eight years of Pat Brown, there was a sense that people wanted change. Reagan had no political experience and we needed to make him believable, so people could see him making the transition from citizen to governor. That was the theme we stuck to in that campaign, because the big question was, 'Does he know anything about governing?' He had to get past that point before he could even be considered as a candidate.[4] | ” |
Gerald Ford 1976 presidential
In 1976, then-President Gerald Ford was challenged by Reagan for the Republican nomination, and Spencer was Ford's chief political consultant at the time. According to Bloomberg, Spencer "helped Ford secure 1976 GOP nomination against Reagan, which was in doubt up to convention’s first ballot."[7]
Speaking of the convention in 2008, Spencer said that he was surprised that the Reagan campaign worked toward rule changes in the convention itself. Spencer said, "[I]f I was in the Reagan role at that point in time, where [Reagan campaign manager John] Sears and these guys were, I would have found an emotional issue to stampede the convention. I would have created one somehow. And when they came up with that procedural thing, I went, oh boy, that’s wonderful." Spencer went on to describe the convention itself, saying that the Ford campaign had ensured that its delegates would not be moved away, saying, "Every delegate was assigned to somebody, and they were to keep in touch with them on like an hourly basis, so that we could get any feedback. I saw no attempt by the other side to start a ground wave of discontent. But I saw people crying as they were voting for Ford on the floor. I did."[2]
Spencer notably turned the general election against Jimmy Carter (D) around when he advised the president to stop campaigning in public, according to The Washington Post: "In a now celebrated meeting, Spencer and Chief of Staff Dick Cheney urged Ford to adopt a 'Rose Garden' strategy, to campaign from the White House so he would at once appear presidential and lessen his exposure. The president balked. Cheney and Spencer shuffled their feet." Of Spencer, Ford later said, "With Stu, you ignore the language. He understands what the public wants and can turn that into campaign results. The evidence is pretty good that his advice to me was first class. We were trailing by 33 points; we lost by two."[8]
Ronald Reagan presidential advisor
In a 2002 article for the Los Angeles Times, Mark Barabak noted Spencer's role as an unpaid advisor during both of Reagan's terms as president:[5]
| “ | Spencer played an unpaid but vital behind-the-scenes role during Reagan's two White House terms. When Donald Regan, the imperious chief of staff, had to go, it was Spencer who flew to Washington to help push him out. When the Soviet Union shot down Korean Airlines Flight 007 in 1983, killing 269 passengers and sending Cold War shudders across the continent, it was Spencer who demanded--profanely--that the vacationing president "come down off the mountain and read a statement." Reagan resisted, but gave in. Spencer is renowned for just that sort of unvarnished advice.[4] | ” |
RealClearPolitics reported on Spencer's role with the Reagan administration, saying that he was known "as a conceptual strategist who was not afraid to depart from conventional political wisdom." The piece went on to explain,[9]
| “ | In October 1980, for instance, when Reagan’s campaign against President Carter was in the doldrums, Spencer suggested to the candidate that he depart from his well-worn script and propose something he’d never put forward before. Reagan agreed and the next day surprised the media by promising to name a woman to the Supreme Court. (Reagan subsequently filled the first Supreme Court vacancy of his presidency with Sandra Day O’Connor.)[4] | ” |
After Reagan left office, Spencer went on to advise the presidential campaign of George H.W. Bush. He focused his efforts on Bush's pick for vice president, Dan Quayle: "He stayed with Quayle on the road for two weeks, employing a favorite gambit -- eliminating spontaneous 'press availabilities' so that only the campaign's predetermined sound bite would dominate the network news."[8]
Presidential election, 2016
Comments on Donald Trump
- See also: Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016
In August 2015, Stuart Spencer co-authored an opinion piece for RealClearPolitics in which he criticized Donald Trump for having compared his move into politics to that of former President Ronald Reagan. Spencer and co-author Ken Khachigian wrote, "Donald Trump’s attempts to burnish his conservative credentials by comparing himself to Ronald Reagan are wildly unconvincing. ... We find no similarities other than both Reagan and Trump came out of the entertainment industry. We knew Ronald Reagan. We served alongside President Reagan. Ronald Reagan was our friend. And, Mr. Trump, you’re no Ronald Reagan." The two specifically commented on Trump's use of Reagan's slogan, "Make America Great Again":[10]
| “ | In the 1980 presidential campaign, Reagan also said it was time to 'make America great again.' But he did so while reflecting on what a wonderful country we live in, and that even amid the failure of our institutions, our nation’s promise of hope and opportunity stood out. It would have been unimaginable for Reagan to say, 'Our country is going to hell,' as Trump regularly claims. Optimism permeated Reagan’s thinking, and we don’t see any evidence of Trump using the uplifting and aspirational language that was so dominant in Reagan’s communications.[4] | ” |
John Kasich presidential campaign, 2016
- See also: John Kasich presidential campaign, 2016
On March 16, 2016, just after John Kasich won the Ohio primaries, the campaign announced the hiring of Stuart Spencer as an advisor. The Daily Caller noted that Spencer's hire was aimed at helping Kasich "at a potential contested GOP convention this summer."[1]
Speaking with CalBuzz in March 2016, Spencer said, "Why am I doing this? Because I’ve spent my life trying to keep the Republican Party together and this may be the last chance." Although he had not been involved in strategy discussions at that point, he gave some advice about what a Kasich contest for delegates would look like, he said, "It’s got to be simple, there has to be suspense and there has to be a surprise involved."[11]
Recent news
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See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Daily Caller, "Kasich Hires New Talent Aimed At Contested Convention," March 16, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Gerald Ford Foundation, "Stu Spencer," accessed April 15, 2016
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Bill Roberts, 63, Veteran Political Consultant, Dies," July 1, 1988
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Los Angeles Times, "Stuart Spencer Has A Few Zingers Left," October 20, 2002
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Los Angeles Times, "Los Angeles Times Interview : Stuart Spencer : From Nixon Through Reagan--the California Political Campaign," May 1, 1994
- ↑ Bloomberg, "Kasich Camp Adviser Hires Include Stu Spencer, Charlie Black," March 15, 2016
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 The Washington Post, "Stu Spencer, Quayle's Co-Pilot," September 13, 1988
- ↑ RealClearPolitics, "Divisive Convention Could Help GOP, Says Strategist," March 2, 2012
- ↑ RealClearPolitics, "Trump Is No Reagan," August 23, 2015
- ↑ CalBuzz, "Spencer to Kasich: Keep it Simple and Surprise ‘Em," March 17, 2016
