Color Me Presidential

Steve Jarding is no beauty school graduate, but his job description does make space for hair consultations, if necessary. A campaign consultant who has staffed Senators Bob Kerrey and John Edwards, Jarding was the mastermind behind Mark Warner’s successful run for governorship in Virginia three years ago. Now, the man Roll Call once named one of the 50 most influential people in Washington is at the Kennedy School, where he pontificates on his area of expertise: “Running for Office and Managing Campaigns.” FM talked to Jarding about P. Diddy, Mohawks and John Edwards’ love life shortly before the 2004 Presidential election.

1. You received your undergraduate degree in political science and communications at the University of South Dakota. What is South Dakota like?

It’s an agricultural state where food is grown and cattle raised. But I’m a firm believer that family farms do more than raise food. They raise values and work ethic and so it’s a great place to grow up.

2. Had you been interested in politics and media from an early age?

Yes. Although I turned out to support Democrats, my mother was a Republican. She instilled in all us children that politics are actually a good thing and it would be an honorable profession.

3. What is the most challenging part of being a campaign consultant?

It’s a business where, because the bottom line is winning...I think campaigns have gotten, as participation has dropped and the special interest money has risen, uglier and uglier and more difficult, and that’s unfortunate because it’s keeping a lot of good people from politics.

4. You held a study group this past spring concerning the election of the nation’s leader. What did you consider the highlight of this seminar?

The student participation. I have taught at other schools and I’ve always been impressed with the students at the other schools, but [here] there is a wonderful level of participation that seems to suggest that students are saying, ‘Yes, we appreciate that we have a responsibility, we’ve been given gifts to be here, we don’t take them lightly, we’re not snobbish about it, we’re not arrogant about it. We accept this great responsibility that comes with this great gift and we’re going to exercise it.’

5. You helped organize Senator John Edwards’s political action committee, the New American Optimists, which introduced him to the national stage. Who came up with the name?

John selected it, and I don’t know where he got it, I never really asked. When I worked for Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, we called [his PAC] BACKPAC, for Building America’s Conscience of Kids. Senator Kerrey initially wanted to all it SIXPAC, but we decided against that and laughed, saying, ‘No, it would probably be inappropriate.’ You try to come up with something catchy. Where John came up with New American Optimists, I don’t know. John’s a very optimistic guy, so I guess he was looking forward to a new America and that was fine with me.

6. In your opinion, has the media been doing an adequate job of covering the political events leading up to November’s election?

No, I don’t think so and I don’t know why entirely. I don’t want to scapegoat the media because it’s a tough job, but when you have campaigns that won’t talk to the media—when campaigns hide the candidate and literally won’t let them answer questions—the media has to figure out a way to overcome that. Politicians try to get away with things and the campaigns do, they try to get an edge, and I think the media just has to try to wrap it up a bit and make sure they become really the independent entity that polices and watchdogs and filters and gives the American public what is legitimate news.

7. Celebrities made a genuine effort to urge young people to vote in the election this year. What can George W. Bush learn from P. Diddy?

If indeed P. Diddy and some of these other artists...are firing young people up and showing young people that it’s important to participate, [then] George Bush and John Kerry and everybody could take a lesson from that. We have a system where under 50 percent of able voters are actually going to the polls. In a representative democracy, that is a failure and if we’re supposed to be exporting democracy from all over the world and half the people don’t participate, then we have a problem. So if P. Diddy is convincing young people to participate then I think everyone could take a lesson from him.

8. Do you give candidates tips on hairstyles?

If it seemed to fit then the answer is clearly, yes. But I can’t imagine who it would be, but if somebody wanted to shave their head and have a mohawk, I might say, I’m not sure that’s the best hairstyle to run for office. I haven’t run into a candidate who had a mohawk, but yeah, if I thought something was way out of line and didn’t fit kind of the constituency or image you want to present, then I would certainly say- [something]—whether it’s a haircut or [a candidate] wearing leisure suits from the 1970s made out of polyester. I’m not beyond telling a candidate that.

9. Is there a certain hairstyle that appeals more to battleground states?

Not to my knowledge. As someone who is hair-challenged, for me anybody who has hair, I think, is a good thing.

10. Do political slogans have to be true?

They should be true. I suppose they don’t have to be, but if they’re not, someone should call whoever is standing behind the slogans out on [that]. There is just too much latitude these guys are getting away with-—stretching the truth, if not lying. More honesty and integrity we can bring into politics, the better. We can’t have enough.

11. Is it true that John Kerry only wears flip-flops because he’s a world famous water-skier?

I didn’t know he wore flip-flops. I didn’t know he was a world famous water-skier, either.

12. What is the best slogan you didn’t come up with but wish you had?

Winning slogans are tough to come by. There was one where the guy lost and he wasn’t a terribly attractive looking man. He ran under the slogan, “Not just another pretty face.” Even though he lost, I always thought this was a fairly clever attempt [of] say[ing], I’ve got substance not style. There’s a lot of good slogans, but very seriously, anything that wins—if it wins—you know, it’s probably pretty good.

13. With political punching bags and talking Bush dolls selling like hotcakes all over the Internet, is there any campaign paraphernalia you found rather interesting?

There was a Bush air freshener I saw in some novelty store that you could hang on your [car] mirror and it had a foul smell, which was obviously the joke--—the idea that the President’s policies stunk and if you hung this up, you would be reminded of his terrible policies.

14. Is John Edwards as much of a ladies’ man in person as he is on camera?

No. Well, he is a ladies’ man to one woman and that’s his wife, Elizabeth. They are a terrific couple. They are, I think, madly in love. They’ve been through a lot together as a couple, as parents. But yes, he is a ladies’ man to Elizabeth only.

15. Who would win in a fight: James Carville or Karl Rove?

Oh, James Carville. I wouldn’t want to be Rove because James Carville would fight to his death.