McSlarrow Talks News|Politics!

October 19, 2000

Can personality win, or kill, a campaign? Washington insider Kyle McSlarrow chats about who's doing which these days on the campaign trail. And he ought to know. It's your chance to read what Grassroots.com's VP of political and governmental affairs and former national chairman for the Quayle 2000 presidential campaign had to say about what the latest dips and knolls in the Election 2000 landscape mean.

Page 1 of 6

Grassroots: Welcome to today's chat! Grassroots and Talk City present Kyle McSlarrow Live! Grassroots.com's VP of political and governmental affairs and former national chairman for the Quayle 2000 Presidential campaign will talk about what the latest dips and knolls in the Election 2000 landscape mean. Ask this Washington insider who's in the lead and why in the race to the oval office.

Kyle McSlarrow: I want to welcome everyone to tonight's chat and I'm pleased to give you all the opportunity to get in your best shots, so why don't we get started!

Jacob: What do you enjoy most about politics?

Kyle McSlarrow: It is the closest thing we have to intellectual competition that demands the best out of everybody in terms of their own abilities and understanding other human beings.

Cyber Voter: Have the qualities we look for in a President changed in the past 50 years?

Kyle McSlarrow: No question! The qualities we used to look at were the kind of qualities that on paper made sense--that is, experience, a record, where you stood on the issues, and intangibles like leadership. In part, this is because it was hard to actually know candidates as people 50 years ago. Maybe at the Presidential level you had a sense of what a candidate looked like and what he was like as a real person. But most candidates around the country were just names. With the advent of television, candidates became real people, so the qualities we have begun to focus on are the same qualities we use to judge the people we interact with in everyday life. So now you are judging people on what they look like, whether or not they have a sense of empathy, how articulate they are, and so on.

Arthur: I read an article on Gore not too long ago, talking about how they have changed all of his suits so that he projects a better image. I'm more concerned about the issues, not the cut of someone's suit. Do people for the most part vote on issues, or on personality and presentation in your opinion?

Kyle McSlarrow: I think they vote on both, and I think you will find if a candidate perceives a vulnerability on the issues, he or she will try to "fix" that by adapting their stands on issues. If they perceive they have a vulnerability in regards to personality, they will try to change that too.

Page 1 of 6