Two stories today on political insiders: Kerry operative Michael Whouley at TNR and Clark oppo demon Chris Lehane in the NYT.

As Kerry has floundered, I've wondered repeatedly -- and loudly -- what happened to the legendary magic of Whouley, a Massachusetts fixer who worked with Clinton (both in the campaigns and as a political operative within the White House) and, in 2000, stage-managed Gore's comeback against Bradley in the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. But Whouley seems to be working his mojo again, with Kerry rising unexpectedly in the polls after a long period in which he lost the "man to beat" status to an upstart governor from Vermont. If he helps Kerry pull off a "comeback kid" upset, he'll go down in the annals of political history.

Lehane was with Kerry, but left to join up with Clark when the Kerry campaign was wracked by internal turmoil. Lehane's an attack dog -- he plays smashmouth politics as well as anyone, but that's all he plays, and if he's let off the leash at the correct times, he can be a valuable asset. The attacks on Dean showing up in Iowa are classic Lehane: for example, the surfacing of Dean's 2000 attacks on the Iowa caucus system obviously caught the other candidates by surprise (none had any comments available in time for the Des Moines newscast), suggesting that it was an out-of-state hit job. (It's no surprise that Dean's campaign has accused Lehane of digging up the footage.)

Lest the goo-goos start in again about the need to "change the tone" of campaigning, the only difference between Lehane and other oppo specialists is his desire for personal publicity, which tends to work against him. Campaigns need to play smashmouth, period. It's only when oppo work gets into gossip-mongering insinuations -- see the recent "Dean's Trooper" story, which prompted the ABC Political Unit to quickly distance itself from the Investigation Unit -- that the Republic might get into trouble. (But, really, is this any worse than "Ma, ma, where's my pa?" We survived Grover Cleveland just fine.)