Word Of Mouth Fueled Obama's Star Turn

Good Impressions And The Story Of A Moving Speech At The Harvard Club Moved An Obscure State Senator Up Kerry Team's List

by James A. Barnes

Monday, Aug. 25, 2008


How did an obscure state senator from Illinois get tapped to deliver the extraordinary 2004 keynote address that vaulted him onto the national stage and sparked talk that one day he might be the Democrats' presidential nominee? Barack Obama's name was put on the short list by John Kerry's convention manager, Jack Corrigan, who had first heard of him less than a year before.

In fall 2003, Corrigan, who is a Boston lawyer and a longtime Democratic operative, got a call from an old political buddy, Henry Bayer, who wanted a favor. Bayer is executive director of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees' Council 31, which represents Illinois public employees. He had been Corrigan's boss when they worked together on the 1974 re-election campaign of Democratic Rep. Abner Mikva in Chicago.

Bayer vividly recalls telling Corrigan about Obama, then an underdog candidate for the U.S. Senate: "I said, 'This is a good guy. He's going to be a great senator. You should raise money for him.'"

Like Obama, Corrigan had graduated from Harvard Law School. And Bayer thought the politically connected lawyer could hold a fundraiser for Obama, who at the time wasn't even expected to win the Democratic primary.

"As Jack usually reacts to things, he said, 'I've got to check this out,'" Bayer chuckled. Corrigan checked with his connections, including Harvard Law School Dean Elana Kagan, who worked for Corrigan when he managed the 1988 presidential campaign of Michael Dukakis. Corrigan thought that Kagan and Obama might have worked on the Harvard Law Review together. They didn't. Kagan had graduated six years ahead of Obama. But she did know Obama from the early 1990s, when they both taught at the University of Chicago's law school.

"She said, 'He's really smart, really effective, and he really cares,'" Corrigan recalls.

He never held a fundraiser for Obama because the aspiring pol didn't return to Boston before his primary. But Corrigan was impressed that Obama had earned kudos from places as diverse as the Ivy League and Chicago's wards, so impressed that he told Kerry's campaign manager that Obama would make a good addition to their team -- as a staffer.

"I had gone to Mary Beth Cahill and said, 'We should hire this kid from Chicago when he loses his primary,'" Corrigan says. "Then what do you know, Obama wins the primary."

After the upset, Obama began to attract attention from the political cognoscenti. The Kerry team started mulling the idea that he should have a role at the convention. Mikva, a mentor of Obama's, recalls a casual call from his former campaign aide Corrigan after Obama won the primary. "At the time he asked me, 'What about this guy Obama?' I said, 'He's even better than he looks.'"

After hanging up the phone, Mikva wondered why Corrigan was asking about Obama. "I thought, 'Maybe they'll give him a speaking role at the convention.' But I was stunned when he ended up as the keynoter."

Mikva's hunch was right: Corrigan was not considering Obama for a starring role. But that was before Corrigan had a chance conversation with Lisa Hay, a U.S. public defender in Portland, Ore., who had worked for Corrigan in the Dukakis campaign and was attending a legal conference in Boston. When the two grabbed a cup of coffee, Corrigan pressed Hay to help out the Kerry campaign: "I said, 'Will you give him some money and do some work?' And she says, 'I'd rather give money to my friend Barack.'"

Hay had been a classmate of Obama's at Harvard and had unsuccessfully run against him for law review president. She proceeded to tell Corrigan about the speech that Obama gave when he formally assumed that post. The setting was Boston's Harvard Club -- crisp white tablecloths, printed invitations. Both the outgoing and incoming law review staffs, plus scores of alumni from prominent law firms, attended the banquet marking the passing of the baton. "Overall, it's a pretty white, male, affluent crowd of folks," Hay says.

As Obama struck inclusive themes, Hay noticed that the wait staff, mostly African-Americans and Latinos, had paused to listen. When Obama finished, they joined the wealthy white lawyers in applauding. One waiter rushed down the center aisle to shake Obama's hand.

"It was the most moving speech about the promise of America that I had ever heard," Hay says. "And I remember it struck me that Barack touched everyone in the room."

Hay's account made a lasting impression on Corrigan. "I just thought there would be a lot of people [in the convention hall] who would identify with his story," Corrigan says. "That's when I put him on the list for keynote."

Obama wasn't the only contender for the plum assignment. And inside the Kerry camp, some were concerned about his lack of stature. "There was definitely discussion about whether or not somebody who was not well known would be the right person to put on that stage," said Democratic media strategist Tad Devine, who was a senior Kerry adviser.

Kerry manager Cahill said that the campaign also checked out Obama with other Illinois Democrats, including Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and his brother, Bill; Sen. Richard Durbin; and Rep. Rahm Emanuel. Cahill even watched a video clip of Obama speaking before deciding to recommend to Kerry that he choose Obama as his keynoter. "A young, African-American, future leader that people spoke so well of -- it seemed like a desirable choice," she said.

But the broadcast television networks didn't care. Hours before Obama spoke, Devine tried to persuade the top producers at ABC, CBS, and NBC to reconsider their decision not to air any of the convention's proceedings in prime time that night. They refused. However, Obama's speech, carried on cable television, was so impressive that the networks ended up talking about it anyway.

"His speech did everything we could have hoped for -- for Kerry and the convention," said Cahill. And, likewise, for Obama.

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