Yes, Sutherland is Canadian. I don’t know what political party he’s a member of, or why he chooses to affiliate with that party.

I also don’t see that it would have diminished the effect of a Russo endorsement, explicit or implied, either before or after the nomination. The value of a celebrity endorsement is that people know who celebrities are and listen to what comes out of their mouths. It’s not like anyone suggested asking Sutherland to run for the VP nomination, or even to join the party.

Presumably if Russo had won the nomination and garnered celebrity endorsements and checks, most of them would have been from “left-leaning” celebrities who would have supported him a) on the war issue and b) because they perceived him as likely to take votes out of George W. Bush’s hide.

Whatever happened there, I’ll never know for sure. I was sent the picture, but also told not to publicly share it during the campaign. My assumption is that Russo thought it was a funny way of answering my “what is going on over there,” but that he didn’t want to even risk the possibility of Sutherland thinking he was trying to claim Sutherland’s endorsement unless he actually HAD it. And hell, maybe he never even asked for it. It wouldn’t be the only time Russo, Gordon, Hess et al pulled my leg. It was never told to me as a serious thing, and I was told that it wasn’t to be used promotionally, so it was all in good fun any way you cut it.

Somewhere on one of my old hard drives, I have a photo from early 2004 of Kiefer Sutherland and Barry Hess arm in arm, partying it up at Russo’s place (taken and emailed to me right after I talked with Russo on the phone and asked what the hell all the commotion in the background was).

I wasn’t there, but I was told he was asked to come to the Atlanta convention and said that he couldn’t, he would be in Europe at that time. Did that actually happen? Who knows? If it did happen, was he really in Europe or was he just looking for a graceful way of saying no? I have no idea. And that was atypical—probably everyone was … comfortably intoxicated. Outside of that one incident, Russo always told me he felt like he had to have the nomination before he could ask celebrity friends to write checks or make public endorsements.

I could understand why Russo wasn’t in any hurry to seek celebrity support before the nomination. These are people he tries to work with, and making them look like fools isn’t conducive to going to them later and asking them to work with one on a film project.

Obviously Russo and those of us working with him believed that he was the best candidate … but that didn’t mean he was going to win the nomination. The LP has now nominated 9 national presidential tickets, and I am absolutely sure that after EVERY ONE of those nominations, some people have been left wandering around muttering “what the fuck were they thinking?” [N.B. I’ve been in the LP through three presidential cycles, and have been in that group three times] Maybe if he had risked it, he WOULD have won. Or maybe not. But he decided not to.

I want in. Which team do I get?

A red Swingline stapler.

Hell, at least one Republican candidate mentioned his current television character in one of the recent debates.

Are you implying Russo got Jack Bauer?!

I know—let me take an Oakland A’s jersey, circa 1976 (the really GREEN green), and substitute a superscript “2” for the apostrophe-S.
—A²

He specifically told me that he would not be asking Hollywood celebrities for help until he had the nomination in hand, as it would be embarrassing for them to put out for him and then something happen like … well, like what happened.

I believe that one celebrity WAS approached about showing up in Atlanta to tout Russo, but that said celebrity pled that he was not going to be in the US in that timeframe. I think that his presence would have made a big difference if it had been possible. Hell, at least one Republican candidate mentioned his current television character in one of the recent debates.

Campagna said he could bring in 200 grand. Never saw it. Was the VP candidate because of this promise. Party of Principle?

Hacker just spent 400K and got 4% of the vote. Didn’t even produce a single TV ad.

Russo was telling everyone he had backing of several hollywood stars. Never happened.

Does anyone detect a pattern? If you totaled up all the outrageous “campaign consulting” fees and charges done by LP campaigns since 1980, you would most likely hit at least $250,000 and possibly half a mil.

I have seen single person charges of $115,000 for “campaign management” as a line item in a LP campaign report of some years ago which I wont name for obvious legal reasons.

The LP has had such potential to do things. It’s squandered most of it chasing the Holy Grail of principle.

It was a lie then; it’s a lie now.

Then again, if he wants to hire me, I disavow all of the nasty things I’ve ever said about the great man.

Wait, no, I think I’ve got it. The Diamondbacks. Aren’t they named for a poisonous snake?