The Keys to the White House vs.The Shrum Curse

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Published on Saturday, September 18, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
The Keys to the White House vs.The Shrum Curse
What Really Happened in the 2000 Presidential Election & What to Expect in 2004

by Karyn Strickler

Few people know the real reason why Al Gore simultaneously won and lost his bid for U.S. President in 2000. It was the clash of two mighty forces of American Presidential history that came together to create the divergence between the Electoral College and the popular vote for the first time since 1888: The Keys to the White House vs. The Shrum Curse.

Bob Shrum is a brilliant, Democratic political consultant with notable successes on Gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races -- but with a 100% losing record on Presidential elections. Shrum consulted on every Democratic Presidential campaign from John Lindsay to Al Gore. Jimmy Carter’s campaign would have ended “The Curse,” but Shrum quit only days into his consultancy on that campaign, keeping the losing streak alive.

Talk of the Shrum Curse is normally only discussed in hushed tones in Washington, DC political circles. But a recent article in The Washington Post let the Genie out of the bottle, freeing me to discuss what really happened in the 2000 Presidential election.

Bob Shrum worked on Al Gore’s campaign in 2000 and his unbroken track record virtually guaranteed that Gore would lose the election -- except that The Keys to the White House also had a 100% track record of accuracy and they were predicting a Gore victory in 2000.


http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0918-01.htm


if I were on the Kerry campaign, I would advise they get rid of Shrum. How this guy has kept in the business with that track record in beyond me.