MANCHESTER, N.H. — In the backroom realm of presidential politics, Michael J. Whouley is known as a candidate fix-it man, the hush-hush operative the big boss summons when strategies go south.
Four years ago, the plain-spoken campaign advisor brought his genius for field tactics to help Al Gore engineer a comeback when insurgent Bill Bradley seized the initiative in the Democratic primaries. Later, his eleventh-hour analysis of the Florida vote count on election night in 2000 saved Gore from making a rushed concession to George W. Bush before all the ballots had been counted.
This week, Whouley struck again.
He arrived in Iowa on a cold day in December and helped lift a long-written-off Sen. John F. Kerry to a surprising victory in the state's caucuses Monday.
Kerry's Iowa campaign manager says Whouley parachuted into the state and identified weaknesses in the campaign's outreach to veterans. He directed staffers to approach not only registered Democrats but also independents who served in the Vietnam War. The goal: expand Kerry's identification with all former armed forces personnel.
"He identified the trees we hadn't shaken yet," said Iowa campaign manager John Norris. "He not only expanded our vet universe, but identified how we could reach beyond prior caucus voters. He jumped in and hired new people and personally trained our field staff. His contributions were just invaluable."
True to his behind-the-scenes persona, the reticent Whouley carries the art of avoiding the spotlight to near obsession. His mother-in-law once complained that he wouldn't even walk by a C-SPAN camera so she could see him on TV, friends say.
In a telephone interview, Whouley -- whose role in Kerry's New Hampshire effort remains unclear -- downplayed his role in the Iowa turnaround. He's in the minority of top-tier strategists, many of whom like to get public credit for their work.
"This victory was 100% about John Kerry," said Whouley, a veteran of two Kerry political campaigns in Massachusetts in the early 1980s.
"I did this because a friend of 25 years had his back against the wall and needed help. If I did anything it was help convince supporters that Kerry was a great closer and that he would connect with voters. And that's exactly what he did."
