Arthur J. Finkelstein
Encyclopedia
Arthur J. Finkelstein is a New York-based Republican Party
(GOP) consultant who has worked for conservative
candidates in the United States
, Canada
, Israel
and Eastern Europe
over the past four decades. With his brother he runs a political consulting and lobbying firm based in Irvington, New York
. Finkelstein's specialties are polling, strategy, message, media, ad placement, and advising on general campaign management.
Finkelstein grew up in a lower-middle-class Jewish family, living in Brooklyn until age 11, then in Levittown, New York, and later Queens. He and his two brothers attended local public schools. Their father worked as a cabdriver and did various jobs in the garment trade. While a student at Columbia University
, Finkelstein interviewed and helped produce radio programs for author/philosopher Ayn Rand
, and was a volunteer at the New York headquarters of the Draft Goldwater Committee
in 1963–64 (the famous "Suite 3505"). He eventually earned a Bachelor's degree from Queens College and pursued (but never finished) a Master's degree.
and exit-polling pioneer Irwin A. "Bud" Lewis.
In 1969–70, he worked as a computer programmer in the Data Processing department of the New York Stock Exchange
at their offices on 11 Wall Street in lower Manhattan.
F. Clifton White
, mastermind of the Draft Goldwater Committee
, was Finkelstein's political patron and consulting partner in the early 1970s in the firm, DirAction Services. The young pollster's first electoral success came at age 25 in 1970, with the independent Conservative campaign of James L. Buckley
for senator from New York. This was one of several New York statewide contests where he was able to maneuver his clients to victory in three-way scenarios. Buckley won a plurality upset victory over GOP incumbent Charles Goodell
and favored Democrat Richard Ottinger
. Of that election night, Buckley later wrote, "By 10 pm, Clif White and Art Finkelstein (my volunteer analyst who called the final results within one-tenth of one percent based on a Sunday-night telephone survey) assured me that I had won."
Finkelstein's work in New York led to his serving in 1972 as one of several pollsters for President Richard M. Nixon's re-election campaign
developing sophisticated demographic
analysis.
The 1972 election also saw the first of his three victorious campaigns to elect Jesse Helms
as U.S. senator from North Carolina. After the election, Finkelstein worked with Helms political aides Tom Ellis
and Carter Wrenn to establish a permanent conservative organization, the National Congressional Club
, which lasted until 1995.
Finkelstein later helped Helms's Congressional Club turn around the 1976 presidential campaign of Ronald Reagan
with a victory in the April North Carolina primary. His work continued in the subsequent Texas primary. At Finkelstein's urging, Reagan made a major issue of the impending Panama Canal Treaties, which Gerald Ford
was negotiating and which infuriated conservative voters. (This proved to be Reagan's signature issue throughout the late 1970s.) As Jules Witcover
later reported, "Tens of thousands of Wallace voters were gradually cut adrift during his slide [in the primaries]... and Reagan media man Arthur Finkelstein recruited a Wallaceite from Fort Worth to radio and television spots for Reagan.... It was dynamite." The Associated Press
's Mike Robinson wrote Finkelstein was "viewed by many as instrumental in Gov. Reagan's 1976 primary successes in North Carolina and Texas."
(FECA) amendments, and the subsequent 1976 Supreme Court decision in Buckley v. Valeo
, drastically altered the rules by which Presidential and Congressional contests were waged. Finkelstein saw an opportunity and pioneered the concept and execution of independent expenditure
campaigns (IEs), which would operate as a third force in an election beyond the control of candidate or party officials. Finkelstein was the chief strategist behind the most successful IE operation of this period, the National Conservative Political Action Committee
(NCPAC). In 1981 New Right activist Richard Viguerie
wrote, "NCPAC relies heavily on research and polling, a reflection of one of its founders, conservative pollster Arthur Finkelstein."
In 1978, NCPAC was instrumental in the defeat of Democrats Dick Clark in Iowa and Thomas J. McIntyre
in New Hampshire. Both liberal senators were replaced by committed conservatives. NCPAC ran hard-hitting ads for television, radio and newspapers, crafted by Finkelstein. A central idea behind the strategy was to expose the liberal words and actions in Washington of elected officials, usually senators, whose moderate or conservative public image at home was at odds with their actual voting record.
NCPAC hit its peak in 1980, operating IEs in six states, its ads and organizing efforts helping to topple liberal Democrats in Iowa (John Culver
), Indiana (Birch Bayh
), Idaho (Frank Church
) and South Dakota (George McGovern
). Less well-known were NCPAC's TV ads in the presidential contest, both negative (one featuring Jimmy Carter
in a 1976 debate, another with Edward Kennedy
shouting "And no more Jimmy Carter!") and positive (footage of Ronald Reagan
speaking on values); Finkelstein concentrated these ad buys in closely contested Southern states (e.g., Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama), all of which switched from Carter to Reagan in 1980.
Finkelstein believed in the usefulness of third forces to help conservatives win elections, but not a conservative third party (a much-discussed option in the mid-1970s). At a February 1977 conference, he told activists, "The development of a third party may very well hurt conservative options in the future by diluting them," warning that traditional and emotional ties to party labels would keep many conservatives in their present parties. He said splinter parties only sap the strength of those with some voice in the current parties.
Besides NCPAC, Finkelstein found particular success during this period in guiding individual Senate and House campaigns. Reagan backer and political unknown Orrin Hatch
won a resounding 56% victory in Utah in 1976 against a three-term Democratic incumbent. In 1978, he was consultant to the successful re-election campaigns of Jesse Helms
in North Carolina and Strom Thurmond
in South Carolina—the latter being Thurmond's last seriously contested race (he served until 2002, age 100). That same year, Finkelstein shepherded Carroll Campbell to his first win in South Carolina's Greenville-area 4th Congressional District.
After a brief interlude early in 1979 as adviser to conservative Congressman Phil Crane
, Finkelstein returned as one of the pollsters advising Ronald Reagan
's primary campaign.
In 1980, he engineered the improbable Senate victory of Long Island supervisor Alfonse D'Amato over incumbent Jacob Javits, another three-way contest where the Democrat (Congresswoman Liz Holtzman) was favored. He also advised the successful campaign of 31-year-old State Senator Don Nickles
for U.S. Senate from Oklahoma. Most unlikely was the victory (aided by National Congressional Club
allies) of John East
in the North Carolina Senate contest; East was a little-known professor who used a wheelchair, recruited for the race by Jesse Helms
and elected through the efforts of Ellis, Wrenn, Finkelstein and the Helms organization.
Besides Campbell, House winners included Duncan Hunter
in California and Denny Smith
in Oregon (both 1980), the latter toppling House Ways and Means Committee chair Al Ullman
. Finkelstein also had his share of Senate losses, including two by previous client James Buckley
(1976, New York, and 1980, Connecticut), and with Avi Nelson (1978, Massachusetts).
. (The others were Richard Wirthlin, Robert Teeter
and Tully Plesser). Newsweek
reported in 1982 that "each of the President's top three advisers has his own numbers man: "Wirthlin became Edwin Meese
's pollster, Teeter became James Baker
's and now Finkelstein has become Michael Deaver
's." Throughout Reagan's first term and into the 1984 re-election campaign, Finkelstein advised Deaver, conducting polls and planning events and visuals (e.g. Reagan's trip to France for the 40th anniversary of D-Day
). As The Washington Post
reported: "For the White House, Finkelstein is more of an idea man than a pollster, specializing in media events such as the president's "spontaneous" drop-ins on disadvantaged individuals and institutions."
He also began dabbling in gubernatorial contests—in New Jersey (1981), for Jim Wallwork
(defeated by Tom Kean
in the GOP primary); and in New York (1982), for Paul Curran (defeated by Lewis Lehrman
for the nomination).
In 1982, Finkelstein client Orrin Hatch
sailed to re-election in Utah, while in Florida, banker Connie Mack III
won his first campaign for the House.
That year, NCPAC was successful in only one targeted race (helping to oust Howard Cannon
in Nevada), failed in several others, and thereafter declined in influence. The pitfalls of running IEs and campaigns at the same time were illustrated when NCPAC was sued for running ads in early 1982 against New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan
—around the same time as Finkelstein was working for GOP Senate candidate Bruce Caputo. In 1986, a federal court ruled against NCPAC, and The Washington Post
editorialized, "Both NCPAC and the Caputo campaign used the same pollster, Arthur Finkelstein. They could hardly be said to be independent unless the Caputo side of Mr. Finkelstein's brain refrained from communicating with the NCPAC side." (Finkelstein himself was not sued or charged; ironically, Caputo's campaign had imploded after revelations he'd lied about serving in the military, and Moynihan was never seriously challenged.)
1984 saw him involved in three pitched battles for the Senate, the most heralded being the challenge of Democratic Governor Jim Hunt
to Helms in North Carolina. The Ellis-Wrenn-Finkelstein team used the permanent assets of the National Congressional Club
to wage a three-year campaign to undermine Hunt, including a groundbreaking opposition-research and advertising effort that redefined the popular governor as a tax-raising national Democrat. Helms won with 52%, in what was then the most expensive Senate race in history.
Finkelstein also found success in New Hampshire, as freshman conservative Sen. Gordon Humphrey overcame a tough challenge from long-time Democratic Congressman Norman D'Amours
. But in Massachusetts, businessman Ray Shamie
lost a close uphill battle to Lt. Gov. John Kerry
for the Senate seat vacated by Paul Tsongas
.
Republicans lost their Senate majority in the November 1986 midterm elections. Nevertheless, Finkelstein's leading clients won re-election—Alfonse D'Amato in New York, and Don Nickles
in Oklahoma. However, his candidate to succeed John East
in North Carolina, David Funderburk
, lost his primary, and he fared no better in Ohio, where Congressman Tom Kindness
made little headway against incumbent Sen. John Glenn
. Finkelstein also steered Californian Elton Gallegly
to his initial victory for Congress.
In 1985-87, Finkelstein was part of the team advising former U.N. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick
for a possible campaign for the Presidency. Kirkpatrick ultimately declined to run.
The Florida Senate contest of 1988—closest in the country that year—was among Finkelstein's signature efforts. Congressman Connie Mack III
won a tougher-than-expected primary, but his campaign did not wait for the results of the early-October Democratic runoff. The consultant determined (correctly) that Congressman Buddy MacKay
would emerge from the bitter face-off, and began running TV and radio ads re-defining MacKay through his liberal voting record, with the tagline, "Hey Buddy, You're a Liberal." MacKay's primary campaign had focused on ethics—appropriate for defeating Democrat Bill Gunter
, but useless against Mack—and he failed to blunt the ideological attack. Still, the "Hey Buddy" ads were unpopular with the press, and 22 of 23 Florida newspapers endorsed MacKay.
Mack continued to press the liberal vs. conservative contrast in debates and ads, closing with endorsements by the highly popular Ronald Reagan
and George H.W. Bush, plus footage of MacKay endorsing various tax increases. A slight majority of voters casting ballots on Election Day backed MacKay, but an aggressive GOP absentee program had already banked a margin of tens of thousands of votes, and Mack was elected senator.
, Nassau
and Suffolk
County GOP). In 1989, he dove into the contentious world of New York City politics. Rudolph Giuliani's initial candidacy for Mayor was met with a primary challenge by cosmetics billionaire Ronald Lauder
, backed by Sen. D'Amato and guided by Finkelstein. The Giuliani-D'Amato feud had begun in 1988 over the selection of Rudy's successor as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York; it colored Republican politics in the Empire State for the next several years. In this first skirmish, Lauder's millions of dollars' worth of hard-hitting advertising failed to prevent Giuliani's winning the GOP nomination. (Giuliani later blamed Lauder's primary ads for his narrow loss to David Dinkins
that November.)
A year later, in the disastrous 1990 gubernatorial election, GOP nominee Pierre Rinfret nearly finished in third place (behind Conservative Party of New York State upstart Herbert London
). D'Amato, and by extension Finkelstein, assumed dominance over the moribund state party apparatus. Long-time Rensselaer County activist William Powers
, a staunch D'Amato ally, was named chairman, and began the rebuilding process.
In the meantime, D'Amato faced mounting ethical problems, and these occupied much of Finkelstein's time in 1990 and 1991. Though the New York senator was ultimately cleared by the Senate Ethics Committee in 1991, he was the subject of ceaseless negative news stories and editorials. When CBS's 60 Minutes
ran a highly damaging story on D'Amato, Finkelstein produced a response program that refuted many of its charges and misstatements. All the while, D'Amato's aggressive casework program and advocacy for New York interests was emphasized in paid and earned media. Nevertheless, going into his 1992 re-election campaign, D'Amato was shown in surveys to be a near-certain loser to most prospective challengers.
When the Democrats nominated Attorney General Robert Abrams
in September, Finkelstein's polls showed D'Amato down 25 points, just seven weeks before the election. Making matters worse was the huge lead enjoyed by Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton
in New York; the Bush-Quayle ticket was a positive drag on D'Amato's chances. As with the Mack-MacKay race in 1988, Finkelstein moved to define Abrams by his liberal positions on issues. Support for a single-payer national health scheme was translated into "a 6% tax on every job in America"—a contention never challenged. His backing for other tax increases was documented and publicized in TV and radio ads, with the tagline, "Bob Abrams: Hopelessly liberal."
The D'Amato campaign was no less bold on the ethics issue, repeating pay-for-play charges made by ex-Rep. Geraldine Ferraro
during the Democratic primary, with ads featuring excerpts from the Abrams-Ferraro debate. When news stories late in the campaign revealed the nominee's disallowed business-tax deductions, Finkelstein's closing ad ran: "Bob Abrams never met a tax he didn't like... except his own." On Election Day 1992, as Bill Clinton
was winning New York State by 16 points, D'Amato won re-election by 1.2 points, a margin of 80,794 votes—with a wave of Clinton-D'Amato split-ticket voting in Brooklyn, Queens and Buffalo the deciding factor.
Finkelstein had several other results that day. In New York City, he and Ronald Lauder
guided to victory a measure limiting the terms of elected city officials. In North Carolina, he helped the Ellis-Wrenn-Congressional Club team guide businessman and former Democrat Lauch Faircloth
to victory over incumbent Sen. Terry Sanford
. His client Don Nickles
easily won a third term as senator from Oklahoma. But in Illinois, the candidacy of Rich Williamson failed to defeat Democrat Carol Moseley Braun
to replace Sen. Alan Dixon.
D'Amato's comeback win had demonstrated the Republicans' window of opportunity in New York City's outer boroughs, among working-class Catholics and (especially) Jewish voters angered by Democratic leaders' handling of the Crown Heights
violence and subsequent incidents. The senator's ticket-splitting performance had the effect of shielding downticket candidates from the Bush debacle, and Republicans actually made Congressional gains in strong D'Amato areas—e.g., working-class Buffalo (Jack Quinn
), and suburban Long Island (Rick Lazio
)—while holding the majority in the powerful State Senate. This strengthened the hand of D'Amato, Finkelstein and Powers going into 1993 and 1994.
Giuliani's second Mayoral campaign in 1993 benefited from the resurgent New York GOP. D'Amato and Finkelstein did not again back a primary challenger. This time, Giuliani ran a more effective race, riding to victory on a wave of discontent with incumbent David Dinkins
, with even stronger turnout among ethnic Catholics and Jewish voters than in 1989, and in the same areas where D'Amato had done well a year earlier. His win raised the question: could Republicans capture the biggest prize of all—the New York Governorship—and defeat the most successful Democrat in the state, Mario Cuomo
?
Finkelstein had specialized in federal elections to this point, and it was uncertain how he would adapt to the localized issues and personal style of a gubernatorial contest. Reluctantly at first, and only after considering several alternative candidates, he and D'Amato settled on supporting little-known State Senator George Pataki
of Peekskill for Governor in 1994. They guided him through the State Convention in May, and to a smashing 3-to-1 primary victory in September over Nelson Rockefeller
's longtime political wheelhorse Richard Rosenbaum.
The main challenge was defining the race against Cuomo. Finkelstein's first ad radiated disappointment and sowed seeds of disbelief: "Desperate candidates do desperate things... Mario Cuomo
could have been senator or President...." Subsequent spots, often as brief as 10 seconds, highlighted Cuomo-era failures (e.g. snarled traffic and record-high utility rates in Long Island), his opposition to the death penalty, and especially the litany of tax increases over his 12 years. The persistent tagline: "Mario Cuomo: Too liberal for too long." Pataki introduced himself in ads first as a gentle reformer, then angry in responding to Cuomo attacks, and finally enthusiastic (in excerpts from rally speeches at campaign's close). Cuomo defended his record and played up D'Amato's sponsorship of Pataki's campaign (to the tune of Paul Simon
's "You Can Call Me Al
"), but had trouble overcoming the anti-incumbent tide.
Pataki had a slight lead in public surveys when, on October 24, Giuliani endorsed Cuomo, with attacks on his fellow Republican quickly becoming a staple on evening news programs. Poll numbers fluctuated wildly, with Finkelstein's own tracking survey showing a Cuomo lead ballooning to 13 points within days. It required a swift response. He elected to attack Giuliani's endorsement as a corrupt deal with Cuomo, the ad using headlines citing suspiciously timed New York State grants to the City to suggest the Governor used taxpayer money to buy the Mayor's backing.
The pendulum swung back, with negative reaction to Giuliani especially strong Upstate and in the Metro North and Long Island suburbs. (GOP protestors even chased the Mayor's plane on an airport tarmac during a statewide flyaround for Cuomo.) Pataki closed the sale with an energetic tour of the state, appearing alone on a WCBS-TV Election Eve program when Cuomo refused a one-on-one debate. The final result: Pataki defeated Cuomo by 4 points. In an historic Republican landslide year, Mario Cuomo was the most prominent Democrat to fall. As Todd Purdum
of The New York Times wrote that November, "For good or ill, Mr. Pataki's campaign [wa]s almost entirely a creation of Mr. Finkelstein."
(NRSC), one of the four permanent GOP campaign operations in Washington. They had a tough act to follow—Phil Gramm
of Texas had just piloted Republicans to a 7-seat gain and recaptured control of the Senate.
For Finkelstein, it was his first bow as an inside player on a Washington campaign committee, his dealings previously being as representative of an individual candidate. Now he and D'Amato were responsible for helping to direct Senate campaigns in 33 states simultaneously. One of their first moves was to break the cycle of hiring parochial-minded Senate aides to manage the sprawling committee; their choice for Executive Director was John Heubusch (later a top executive with Gateway Computers). Another key hire was JoAnn Barnhart as Political Director; Barnhart was a long-time aide and campaigner for Sen. William Roth, and later served as Director of the Social Security Administration
.
The NRSC faced several challenges beyond their control, many emanating from the two dominant Republicans of 1995–96, House Speaker Newt Gingrich
and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole
. The Oklahoma City bombing
had given Bill Clinton
an opportunity to marginalize his opponents, and slowed the momentum of the reform-minded Republican Congress. By late 1995, unrelenting Democrat/press attacks, and his own missteps, had turned Gingrich into a pariah through much of the country (2-to-1 unfav-fav ratio in surveys); meanwhile, Dole was running for President, and allowing ambition to overshadow his Senate work. In mid-1996, Dole resigned from the Senate to campaign full-time, but by then he was behind Clinton to stay, and eventually polled less than 41% nationwide.
D'Amato remained personally devoted to Dole, but Finkelstein and the NRSC team urged Republican Senate candidates to cut loose from unpopular national leaders and carve their own individual profiles on issues. D'Amato remained a champion fundraiser and the committee found new legal ways to deliver assistance to Senate campaigns and local parties. The NRSC paid particular attention to blunting the wave of millionaire political unknowns (e.g., Tom Bruggere
in Oregon, Elliott Close in South Carolina) recruited that year by the Democrats. It also shored up many endangered incumbents, including Bob Smith
(New Hampshire), John Warner
(Virginia), 75-year-old Jesse Helms
and 94-year-old Strom Thurmond
.
On Election Night, as Clinton defeated Dole by nearly 9 points and Gingrich's House Republicans lost a net eight seats, Senate Republicans won open seats in Alabama, Arkansas and Nebraska, while losing South Dakota. In a poor GOP year, the D'Amato-Finkelstein NRSC had gained a net 2 seats (and narrowly missed another gain in the Cleland-Millner race in Georgia).
His own statewide clients in 1996 showed a mixed record, with Senator Larry Pressler (South Dakota) and ex-Senator Rudy Boschwitz
(Minnesota) both losing, albeit in close races. Bob Smith
survived with a 49% plurality win. Earlier in 1996, he also helped Benjamin Netanyahu
oust Shimon Perez as leader of Israel. According to The Jerusalem Post
, "Finkelstein was largely responsible for the strategy that brought Netanyahu victory in the 1996 general elections."
But Finkelstein's greatest personal challenge that year came with the August issue of Boston magazine
, which revealed his private life as a homosexual; the ostensible excuse for the outing was that several Finkelstein clients had voted against gay-rights measures in Congress, and his work to elect them was therefore inconsistent and/or hypocritical. In September, D'Amato said, "I don't think a person's sexual orientation, his private life—a person's private life should be brought up and I think the question is offensive, it's wrong. He's a wonderful, decent person and whatever his sexual orientation is, that's his business." Most of Finkelstein's clients elected to continue using him as their pollster and strategist.
Finkelstein's next two years anchored him again in New York, for the simultaneous re-election campaigns of Senator D'Amato and Governor Pataki in 1998. The contests were as different as the candidates themselves, with the calm, earnest Pataki winning high approval ratings and discouraging stronger Democrats from challenging him. New Yorkers' approval of Republican executives was signalled with the landslide re-election of Giuliani as Mayor in November 1997. Finkelstein crafted a highly positive campaign for Pataki, focusing on fulfillment of promises from 1994 (e.g., tax cuts) and policy innovations (the STAR tax program for seniors). Raising $21 million, Pataki defeated New York City Council President Peter Vallone, Sr.
by 21 percentage points, polling 54.3%, the largest share by a Republican for Governor since Nelson Rockefeller
in 1958.
The abrasive, pugnacious D'Amato was another matter entirely. Since his narrow victory in 1992, his profile had grown more partisan Republican in this still-Democratic state. Summoning First Lady Hillary Clinton to testify before his Senate committee in 1995, and aggressive campaigning for Dole in 1996, damaged D'Amato in a state where Bill Clinton
crushed the Kansan by nearly 2-to-1 (59.5% to 30.6%), doubling his 1992 margin over Bush. D'Amato's decision to divorce his wife after a long separation and announce his engagement to a young socialite was no help, and others recalled his mock-Japanese impression of O.J. Simpson case Judge Lance Ito
in 1995 (for which he was forced to apologize on the Senate floor).
D'Amato raised a record $26 million for the 1998 campaign, and Finkelstein went to work early shoring up his client's "Senator Pothole" image of close attention to local needs and the problems of individual New Yorkers. State polls showed a swing back to such issues as health care and social concerns, which needed to be addressed. The tagline of these ads: "Al D'Amato Cares, Al D'Amato Makes a Difference, Al D'Amato Gets Things Done."
The Democratic primary was ultimately between Geraldine Ferraro
and Brooklyn Congressman Charles Schumer
; Finkelstein prepared for both eventualities, and when Schumer won by a surprisingly large margin, he immediately began ads that raised questions about the candidate's work ethic. (As Congressman, Schumer had missed an inordinate number of committee meetings.) The unexpected line of attack stymied the Democrat in late September and early October, and despite his weaknesses D'Amato gamely held onto a lead.
All this changed with a remarkable show of hubris before a small audience of Jewish supporters in Brooklyn that October. First, D'Amato did a waddling impression of rotund Democratic Rep. Gerald Nadler. Next, he referred to opponent Schumer as a "putzhead" (a mangling of the Yiddish vulgarism "putz")—then, questioned later by reporters, D'Amato denied using the term, an evident lie contradicted by his own supporters (e.g., Ed Koch
) present at the meeting. Film of the denial was turned into a Schumer TV ad within days.
Finkelstein's tracking survey the night of D'Amato's "putzhead" comment showed the senator leading Schumer by 10 points with two weeks to go. But the meltdown was quick and decisive, with Schumer's ads relentlessly driving the message of D'Amato's dishonesty and dislikeability. The Democrat's closing tagline was itself a homage to Finkelstein: "D'Amato: Too many lies for too long." Schumer won, 54.6% to 44.1%—a 20-point turnaround.
, Austria
, Bulgaria
, the Czech Republic
, Hungary
, Kosovo
and the Ukraine
. He has continued to consult in Israeli elections, working for Ariel Sharon
, Benjamin Netanyahu
and most recently Avigdor Lieberman. He also ran the successful campaign of Nir Barkat for Mayor of Jerusalem in 2008. Finkelstein began assisting the National Liberal Party
in Romania
and the Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu
in 2007.
Having twice steered Connie Mack III
to Senate victories in 1988 and 1994, Finkelstein was in demand for the 2000 Florida contest upon Mack's retirement. His candidate was 10-term Congressman Bill McCollum
, and he helped clear the Republican field early in anticipation of a tough general election against Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson
. It was a nail-biter with many echoes of the 1988 Senate campaign, but a different result. As enthusiasm among Republican voters faltered in the final days (after revelations of George W. Bush
's 1976 DUI conviction), GOP coattails and McCollum's slim lead disappeared, and Nelson was elected, 51% to 46%.
McCollum ran for the other Florida Senate seat on Democrat Bob Graham
's retirement in 2004, but succumbed to eventual Senator Mel Martinez
after low fundraising allowed the challenger to overcome his early lead. But McCollum was more successful in 2006, when he was the consensus GOP choice for Attorney General, and defeated Democrat Skip Campbell
, 52.7% to 47.3%, polling well in a poor year for Republicans.
A 2004 open seat in Florida's 14th Congressional District allowed Finkelstein to help create a political dynasty, as he steered State Rep. Connie Mack IV
to a narrow victory in a four-way primary, then general-election wins in 2004, 2006 and 2008. Mack's marriage to Congresswoman Mary Bono
led to Finkelstein's managing of her sharply contested (but successful) California campaign in November 2008.
Texas businessman David Dewhurst
first approached Finkelstein in 1993 about running for Governor; he advised Dewhurst against challenging George W. Bush
. In 1998, he shepherded the millionaire to victory for the post of state Land Commissioner, then to two successive wins in 2002 and 2006 for the job of Lieutenant Governor (in Texas, a constitutionally powerful post).
Pataki's third gubernatorial campaign, in 2002, provided some fresh challenges to Finkelstein, including a contest for the Conservative Party of New York State nomination, a still-shrinking Republican base, and a strong third-party challenge from millionaire B. Thomas Golisano, running again on the Independence Party
line. Finkelstein positioned Pataki as an economic conservative but far more moderate on social and spending issues than in previous campaigns. This shift won the endorsement of such Democratic stalwarts as SEIU leader Dennis Rivera
and state teachers' union president Randi Weingarten
. Pataki enjoyed a 15-point victory, polling 48.3% to 32.7% for state Comptroller H. Carl McCall, and 14% for Golisano.
Finkelstein tried to make use of Pataki's likely coattails by helming the campaign of David Cornstein for the state Comptroller slot being vacated by McCall. Cornstein, a successful businessman and Giuliani's appointed chief of Off-Track Betting
, brought personal resources and a strong finance team to the table. He was a longtime ally of both the Mayor and Governor, with a City / Long Island base and unusual appeal as a Jewish Republican running as a moderate-conservative. But party regulars fell in decisively behind former Upstate Assemblyman John Faso
, a onetime legislative leader for the GOP minority, and Cornstein abandoned his run in 2001. (Faso failed to expand his appeal beyond the limited Republican base, losing with 46.5% in November 2002; in 2006, Eliot Spitzer
crushed him, Faso polling just 29.2% in his bid for Governor.)
Back in New York, Finkelstein in April 2005, Finkelstein announced the organization of Stop Her Now
, a 527 committee dedicated to defeating then-Senator Hillary Clinton in the 2006 New York U.S. Senate race
. Clinton sailed to an easy re-election, and the PAC was not a factor in the contest.
In the titanic struggle over new stadium construction on Manhattan's West Side
, Finkelstein was hired to defeat the proposal by Cablevision and its allies; they ultimately prevailed, and the new Yankee Stadium was instead built in the Bronx, next to the old ballfield site, opening in 2009.
Finkelstein also served as pollster for the 2004 primary challenge by conservative Pennsylvania Congressman Pat Toomey
against moderate incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter
, pairing with strategist Jon Lerner. Specter averted defeat narrowly only after massive assistance from the NRSC and Bush White House (and then switched parties after the 2008 election).
He also helped create the idea for this commercial message about Minnesota
U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone
:
While often successful, Finkelstein's tactics have sometimes backfired – in 1996, his repeated attacks against Wellstone may have helped galvanize Wellstone's liberal grass-roots base. Republican Sen. Rod Grams
eventually condemned Finkelstein's negative ads against Wellstone as excessive; however, his client (former Sen. Rudy Boschwitz
) came closer that year than any GOP challenger to defeating a Democratic incumbent.
"Finkelstein is the ultimate sort of Dr. Strangelove, who believes you can largely disregard what the politicians are going to say and do, what the newspapers are going to do, and create a simple and clear and often negative message, which, repeated often enough, can bring you to victory," said Philip Friedman, a Manhattan consultant who got his start working for Finkelstein Democratic rival David Garth.
Republican strategist Roger Ailes
described Finkelstein as "a polling guy with creative talents".
"I think he's basically sort of a mad scientist," said John Fossel, chairman of Oppenheimer Funds, "and a scientist he is. He really understands numbers." Finkelstein polled in Fossel's unsuccessful Republican Congressional campaign in Westchester County in 1982. "We had a knock-down, drag-out over whether busing was an issue in Westchester. His polls told him it was. I said, 'I don't think it is, but if it is, it isn't to me,' and we didn't use it."
"He is one of the most creative people I have ever worked with," said Carter Wrenn, who worked on Republican campaigns for 20 years with Finkelstein in North Carolina. "He is brilliant in terms of analyzing polls and numbers. He has a unique combination of an analytical and creative mind.... This guy's a workaholic. He must work 18 hours a day.... If you need him, he comes."
"Just knock on his head, and he'll give you an idea."—Tom Ellis
, cofounder of the National Congressional Club
, on Finkelstein.
Finkelstein's early style is described in an account of a Congressional primary race in Arizona.
Finkelstein has given advice to political candidates or elected officials to perform the "dance of the honest man", a metaphor for responding to "questions about transparency, honesty, or integrity" by imagining oneself as a typical, honest voter.
England's The Daily Telegraph
: "In the 1996 election in Israel, Arthur Finkelstein, the American consultant who had turned 'liberal' into a swear word, used polling data to pinpoint precisely the issue over which Israelis would reject a deal with the Palestinians—the division of Jerusalem—and propel Benjamin Netanyahu to a victory based on exemplary scare-mongering."
Over the past four decades, Finkelstein has been responsible for the early hiring and training of many successful Republican consultants and managers, including Tony Fabrizio, John McLaughlin, Jim Murphy, Alex Castellanos
, Kieran Mahoney, Jon Lerner, George Birnbaum
, and Mitch Bainwol
. Others who worked with Finkelstein and have gone on to have successful independent careers include Frank Luntz
, Larry Weitzner, Rick Reed and Roger Stone
.
Finkelstein's firm has also done non-political work for a number of organizations:
In 1988, Finkelstein was hired to do polling in the hotly contested Democratic primary for the New York Post
.
outed
Finkelstein as a homosexual in a feature story. In April 2005, Finkelstein acknowledged that in December 2004, he had married his partner of forty years in a civil ceremony at his home in Massachusetts
. This prompted former President Bill Clinton
to state that "I thought, one of two things. Either this guy believes his party is not serious, and is totally Machiavellian in his position, or there's some sort of self-loathing there. I was more sad for him."
Finkelstein is a self-identified libertarian
, and has increasingly distanced himself from social conservative
elements within the Republican Party.
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
(GOP) consultant who has worked for conservative
American conservatism
Conservatism in the United States has played an important role in American politics since the 1950s. Historian Gregory Schneider identifies several constants in American conservatism: respect for tradition, support of republicanism, preservation of "the rule of law and the Christian religion", and...
candidates in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
over the past four decades. With his brother he runs a political consulting and lobbying firm based in Irvington, New York
Irvington, New York
Irvington, sometimes known as Irvington-on-Hudson, is an affluent suburban village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a station stop on the...
. Finkelstein's specialties are polling, strategy, message, media, ad placement, and advising on general campaign management.
Finkelstein grew up in a lower-middle-class Jewish family, living in Brooklyn until age 11, then in Levittown, New York, and later Queens. He and his two brothers attended local public schools. Their father worked as a cabdriver and did various jobs in the garment trade. While a student at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Finkelstein interviewed and helped produce radio programs for author/philosopher Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
, and was a volunteer at the New York headquarters of the Draft Goldwater Committee
Draft Goldwater Committee
The Draft Goldwater Committee was the organization primarily responsible for engineering the nomination of Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater for President of the United States on the 1964 Republican Party ticket....
in 1963–64 (the famous "Suite 3505"). He eventually earned a Bachelor's degree from Queens College and pursued (but never finished) a Master's degree.
Early career, 1968–76
In 1968, Finkelstein did behind-the-scenes election analysis for NBC News, part of the network's team working under former Census director Richard M. ScammonRichard M. Scammon
Richard M. Scammon was an author, political scientist and elections scholar. He served as Director of the U.S. Bureau of the Census from 1961 to 1965. Afterwards, he worked for decades directing election analysis for NBC News....
and exit-polling pioneer Irwin A. "Bud" Lewis.
In 1969–70, he worked as a computer programmer in the Data Processing department of the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
at their offices on 11 Wall Street in lower Manhattan.
F. Clifton White
F. Clifton White
Frederick Clifton White was a U.S. political consultant and campaign manager for candidates of the Republican Party and the New York Conservative Party, as well as foreign clients...
, mastermind of the Draft Goldwater Committee
Draft Goldwater Committee
The Draft Goldwater Committee was the organization primarily responsible for engineering the nomination of Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater for President of the United States on the 1964 Republican Party ticket....
, was Finkelstein's political patron and consulting partner in the early 1970s in the firm, DirAction Services. The young pollster's first electoral success came at age 25 in 1970, with the independent Conservative campaign of James L. Buckley
James L. Buckley
James Lane Buckley is a retired judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and previously served as a United States Senator from the state of New York as a member of the Conservative Party of New York from January 3, 1971 to January 3, 1977...
for senator from New York. This was one of several New York statewide contests where he was able to maneuver his clients to victory in three-way scenarios. Buckley won a plurality upset victory over GOP incumbent Charles Goodell
Charles Goodell
Charles Ellsworth Goodell was a U.S. Representative and a Senator from New York, notable for coming into both offices under special circumstances following the deaths of his predecessors.-Early life and education:...
and favored Democrat Richard Ottinger
Richard Ottinger
Richard Ottinger is an American politician of the Democratic Party, a former member of the United States House of Representatives, and a legal educator.-Early years:...
. Of that election night, Buckley later wrote, "By 10 pm, Clif White and Art Finkelstein (my volunteer analyst who called the final results within one-tenth of one percent based on a Sunday-night telephone survey) assured me that I had won."
Finkelstein's work in New York led to his serving in 1972 as one of several pollsters for President Richard M. Nixon's re-election campaign
United States presidential election, 1972
The United States presidential election of 1972 was the 47th quadrennial United States presidential election. It was held on November 7, 1972. The Democratic Party's nomination was eventually won by Senator George McGovern, who ran an anti-war campaign against incumbent Republican President Richard...
developing sophisticated demographic
Demographics
Demographics are the most recent statistical characteristics of a population. These types of data are used widely in sociology , public policy, and marketing. Commonly examined demographics include gender, race, age, disabilities, mobility, home ownership, employment status, and even location...
analysis.
The 1972 election also saw the first of his three victorious campaigns to elect Jesse Helms
Jesse Helms
Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. was a five-term Republican United States Senator from North Carolina who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001...
as U.S. senator from North Carolina. After the election, Finkelstein worked with Helms political aides Tom Ellis
Thomas F. Ellis
Thomas F. Ellis is an American lawyer and political activist involved in numerous conservative causes. His network of interests were described as "a multimillion dollar political empire of corporations, foundations, political action committees and ad hoc groups" active in the 1980s and developed by...
and Carter Wrenn to establish a permanent conservative organization, the National Congressional Club
National Congressional Club
The National Congressional Club was a political organization controlled by Senator Jesse Helms through the mid-2000s. It was described as a "vast and sophisticated enterprise." As a political fundraiser, Helms had few rivals...
, which lasted until 1995.
Finkelstein later helped Helms's Congressional Club turn around the 1976 presidential campaign of Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
with a victory in the April North Carolina primary. His work continued in the subsequent Texas primary. At Finkelstein's urging, Reagan made a major issue of the impending Panama Canal Treaties, which Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
was negotiating and which infuriated conservative voters. (This proved to be Reagan's signature issue throughout the late 1970s.) As Jules Witcover
Jules Witcover
Jules Joseph Witcover is an American journalist, author, and columnist.Witcover is a veteran newspaperman of 50 years' standing, having written for The Baltimore Sun, the now-defunct Washington Star, the Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post...
later reported, "Tens of thousands of Wallace voters were gradually cut adrift during his slide [in the primaries]... and Reagan media man Arthur Finkelstein recruited a Wallaceite from Fort Worth to radio and television spots for Reagan.... It was dynamite." The Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
's Mike Robinson wrote Finkelstein was "viewed by many as instrumental in Gov. Reagan's 1976 primary successes in North Carolina and Texas."
NCPAC and a Senate majority, 1976–80
Passage of the post-Watergate Federal Election Campaign ActFederal Election Campaign Act
The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 is a United States federal law which increased disclosure of contributions for federal campaigns. It was amended in 1974 to place legal limits on the campaign contributions...
(FECA) amendments, and the subsequent 1976 Supreme Court decision in Buckley v. Valeo
Buckley v. Valeo
Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 , was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a federal law which set limits on campaign contributions, but ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech, and struck down portions of the law...
, drastically altered the rules by which Presidential and Congressional contests were waged. Finkelstein saw an opportunity and pioneered the concept and execution of independent expenditure
Independent expenditure
-Definition:In elections in the United States, an independent expenditure is a political campaign communication which expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate that is not made in cooperation, consultation or concert with or at the request or suggestion of a...
campaigns (IEs), which would operate as a third force in an election beyond the control of candidate or party officials. Finkelstein was the chief strategist behind the most successful IE operation of this period, the National Conservative Political Action Committee
National Conservative Political Action Committee
The National Conservative Political Action Committee was a New Right political action committee in the United States that was a major contributor to the ascendancy of conservative Republicans in the early 1980s, including the election of Ronald Reagan as President, and that innovated the use of...
(NCPAC). In 1981 New Right activist Richard Viguerie
Richard Viguerie
Richard Art Viguerie is a conservative figure, pioneer of political direct mail and writer on American politics...
wrote, "NCPAC relies heavily on research and polling, a reflection of one of its founders, conservative pollster Arthur Finkelstein."
In 1978, NCPAC was instrumental in the defeat of Democrats Dick Clark in Iowa and Thomas J. McIntyre
Thomas J. McIntyre
Thomas James McIntyre was a U.S. senator from New Hampshire, and a member of the Democratic Party.Born in Laconia, New Hampshire, he attended the public and parochial schools of Laconia; he graduated from Manlius Military School in Manlius, New York, in 1933, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New...
in New Hampshire. Both liberal senators were replaced by committed conservatives. NCPAC ran hard-hitting ads for television, radio and newspapers, crafted by Finkelstein. A central idea behind the strategy was to expose the liberal words and actions in Washington of elected officials, usually senators, whose moderate or conservative public image at home was at odds with their actual voting record.
NCPAC hit its peak in 1980, operating IEs in six states, its ads and organizing efforts helping to topple liberal Democrats in Iowa (John Culver
John Culver
John Chester Culver is an American politician of the Democratic Party who represented Iowa in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate....
), Indiana (Birch Bayh
Birch Bayh
Birch Evans Bayh II is a former United States Senator from Indiana, having served from 1963 to 1981. He was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in the 1976 election, but lost to Jimmy Carter. He is the father of former Indiana Governor and former U.S. Senator Evan Bayh.-Life...
), Idaho (Frank Church
Frank Church
Frank Forrester Church III was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States Senator from Idaho from 1957 to 1981....
) and South Dakota (George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
). Less well-known were NCPAC's TV ads in the presidential contest, both negative (one featuring Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
in a 1976 debate, another with Edward Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
shouting "And no more Jimmy Carter!") and positive (footage of Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
speaking on values); Finkelstein concentrated these ad buys in closely contested Southern states (e.g., Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama), all of which switched from Carter to Reagan in 1980.
Finkelstein believed in the usefulness of third forces to help conservatives win elections, but not a conservative third party (a much-discussed option in the mid-1970s). At a February 1977 conference, he told activists, "The development of a third party may very well hurt conservative options in the future by diluting them," warning that traditional and emotional ties to party labels would keep many conservatives in their present parties. He said splinter parties only sap the strength of those with some voice in the current parties.
Besides NCPAC, Finkelstein found particular success during this period in guiding individual Senate and House campaigns. Reagan backer and political unknown Orrin Hatch
Orrin Hatch
Orrin Grant Hatch is the senior United States Senator for Utah and is a member of the Republican Party. Hatch served as the chairman or ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1993 to 2005...
won a resounding 56% victory in Utah in 1976 against a three-term Democratic incumbent. In 1978, he was consultant to the successful re-election campaigns of Jesse Helms
Jesse Helms
Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. was a five-term Republican United States Senator from North Carolina who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001...
in North Carolina and Strom Thurmond
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
in South Carolina—the latter being Thurmond's last seriously contested race (he served until 2002, age 100). That same year, Finkelstein shepherded Carroll Campbell to his first win in South Carolina's Greenville-area 4th Congressional District.
After a brief interlude early in 1979 as adviser to conservative Congressman Phil Crane
Phil Crane
Philip Miller "Phil" Crane is a former American politician. He was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 2005, representing the 8th District of Illinois in the northwestern suburbs of Chicago...
, Finkelstein returned as one of the pollsters advising Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
's primary campaign.
In 1980, he engineered the improbable Senate victory of Long Island supervisor Alfonse D'Amato over incumbent Jacob Javits, another three-way contest where the Democrat (Congresswoman Liz Holtzman) was favored. He also advised the successful campaign of 31-year-old State Senator Don Nickles
Don Nickles
Donald Lee Nickles is an American businessman and politician who was a Republican United States Senator from Oklahoma from 1981 until 2005. He was a fiscal and social conservative.-Early life:...
for U.S. Senate from Oklahoma. Most unlikely was the victory (aided by National Congressional Club
National Congressional Club
The National Congressional Club was a political organization controlled by Senator Jesse Helms through the mid-2000s. It was described as a "vast and sophisticated enterprise." As a political fundraiser, Helms had few rivals...
allies) of John East
John East
John East was a 19th-century Anglican clergyman and writer.At Oxford he was a friend of William Henry Havergal.He became:* Rector of Croscombe, Somerset * Curate of St Michael's, Bath* Rector of St Michael's, Bath from 1843 John East (died 1856) was a 19th-century Anglican clergyman and writer.At...
in the North Carolina Senate contest; East was a little-known professor who used a wheelchair, recruited for the race by Jesse Helms
Jesse Helms
Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. was a five-term Republican United States Senator from North Carolina who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001...
and elected through the efforts of Ellis, Wrenn, Finkelstein and the Helms organization.
Besides Campbell, House winners included Duncan Hunter
Duncan Hunter
Duncan Lee Hunter is an American politician. He was a Republican member of the House of Representatives from California's 52nd, 45th and 42nd districts from 1981 to 2009....
in California and Denny Smith
Denny Smith
Dennis Alan "Denny" Smith is a businessman and former United States congressman from the state of Oregon. A native of the state, he served in the Air Force before working in the airline industry and taking over the family's newspaper business. A Republican, he served ten years in Congress from...
in Oregon (both 1980), the latter toppling House Ways and Means Committee chair Al Ullman
Al Ullman
Albert Conrad "Al" Ullman , was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives who represented from 1957 to 1981...
. Finkelstein also had his share of Senate losses, including two by previous client James Buckley
James L. Buckley
James Lane Buckley is a retired judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and previously served as a United States Senator from the state of New York as a member of the Conservative Party of New York from January 3, 1971 to January 3, 1977...
(1976, New York, and 1980, Connecticut), and with Avi Nelson (1978, Massachusetts).
The 1980s
Having ridden (and driven) the Republican wave of 1977-80, Finkelstein found the 1980s a period of consolidation, helping clients grow their base and win re-election. In 1981, Finkelstein was one of four pollsters designated to do work on behalf of the Reagan White House, paid by the Republican National CommitteeRepublican National Committee
The Republican National Committee is an American political committee that provides national leadership for the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising and election strategy. It is...
. (The others were Richard Wirthlin, Robert Teeter
Robert Teeter
Robert M. Teeter was an American Republican pollster and political campaign strategist.-Biography:Born in Coldwater, Michigan, Teeter worked in various capacities for four presidents, and numerous governors and senators. Formerly the president of Market Opinion Research, he later founded an Ann...
and Tully Plesser). Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
reported in 1982 that "each of the President's top three advisers has his own numbers man: "Wirthlin became Edwin Meese
Edwin Meese
Edwin "Ed" Meese, III is an attorney, law professor, and author who served in official capacities within the Ronald Reagan Gubernatorial Administration , the Reagan Presidential Transition Team , and the Reagan White House , eventually rising to hold the position of the 75th Attorney General of...
's pollster, Teeter became James Baker
James Baker
James Addison Baker, III is an American attorney, politician and political advisor.Baker served as the Chief of Staff in President Ronald Reagan's first administration and in the final year of the administration of President George H. W. Bush...
's and now Finkelstein has become Michael Deaver
Michael Deaver
Michael Keith Deaver was a member of President Ronald Reagan's White House staff serving as White House Deputy Chief of Staff under James Baker III and Donald Regan from January 1981 until May 1985.-Early life:...
's." Throughout Reagan's first term and into the 1984 re-election campaign, Finkelstein advised Deaver, conducting polls and planning events and visuals (e.g. Reagan's trip to France for the 40th anniversary of D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
). As The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
reported: "For the White House, Finkelstein is more of an idea man than a pollster, specializing in media events such as the president's "spontaneous" drop-ins on disadvantaged individuals and institutions."
He also began dabbling in gubernatorial contests—in New Jersey (1981), for Jim Wallwork
Jim Wallwork
Staff Sergeant Jim Wallwork DFM was a member of the Glider Pilot Regiment who achieved fame as the pilot of the first Horsa glider to land at Pegasus Bridge in the early hours of 6 June 1944. This remarkable achievement was described as "the greatest feat of flying of the second world war" by Air...
(defeated by Tom Kean
Thomas Kean
Thomas Howard Kean is an American Republican Party politician, who served as the 48th Governor of New Jersey from 1982 to 1990. Kean is best known globally, however, for his 2002 appointment as Chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, widely known as the...
in the GOP primary); and in New York (1982), for Paul Curran (defeated by Lewis Lehrman
Lewis Lehrman
For the Texas judge, see Debra Lehrmann.Lewis E. "Lew" Lehrman is an investment banker who actively supports the ongoing study of American history from a conservative perspective. He was presented the National Humanities Medal at the White House in 2005 for his scholarly contributions...
for the nomination).
In 1982, Finkelstein client Orrin Hatch
Orrin Hatch
Orrin Grant Hatch is the senior United States Senator for Utah and is a member of the Republican Party. Hatch served as the chairman or ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1993 to 2005...
sailed to re-election in Utah, while in Florida, banker Connie Mack III
Connie Mack III
Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy III , popularly known as Connie Mack, is a former Republican politician. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Florida from 1983 to 1989 and then as a Senator from 1989 to 2001. He served as chairman of the Senate Republican...
won his first campaign for the House.
That year, NCPAC was successful in only one targeted race (helping to oust Howard Cannon
Howard Cannon
Howard Walter Cannon was an American politician. He served as a United States Senator from Nevada from 1959 until 1983 as a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life:...
in Nevada), failed in several others, and thereafter declined in influence. The pitfalls of running IEs and campaigns at the same time were illustrated when NCPAC was sued for running ads in early 1982 against New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick "Pat" Moynihan was an American politician and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the United States Senate for New York in 1976, and was re-elected three times . He declined to run for re-election in 2000...
—around the same time as Finkelstein was working for GOP Senate candidate Bruce Caputo. In 1986, a federal court ruled against NCPAC, and The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
editorialized, "Both NCPAC and the Caputo campaign used the same pollster, Arthur Finkelstein. They could hardly be said to be independent unless the Caputo side of Mr. Finkelstein's brain refrained from communicating with the NCPAC side." (Finkelstein himself was not sued or charged; ironically, Caputo's campaign had imploded after revelations he'd lied about serving in the military, and Moynihan was never seriously challenged.)
1984 saw him involved in three pitched battles for the Senate, the most heralded being the challenge of Democratic Governor Jim Hunt
Jim Hunt
James Baxter Hunt Jr. is an American politician who was the 69th and 71st Governor of the state of North Carolina . He is the longest-serving governor in the state's history.-Early life:...
to Helms in North Carolina. The Ellis-Wrenn-Finkelstein team used the permanent assets of the National Congressional Club
National Congressional Club
The National Congressional Club was a political organization controlled by Senator Jesse Helms through the mid-2000s. It was described as a "vast and sophisticated enterprise." As a political fundraiser, Helms had few rivals...
to wage a three-year campaign to undermine Hunt, including a groundbreaking opposition-research and advertising effort that redefined the popular governor as a tax-raising national Democrat. Helms won with 52%, in what was then the most expensive Senate race in history.
Finkelstein also found success in New Hampshire, as freshman conservative Sen. Gordon Humphrey overcame a tough challenge from long-time Democratic Congressman Norman D'Amours
Norman D'Amours
Norman Edward D'Amours was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from New Hampshire from 1975 to 1985, where he was an active participant on issues related to banking and finance. Mr. D'Amours remains active in New Hampshire and national politics...
. But in Massachusetts, businessman Ray Shamie
Ray Shamie
Raymond Shamie was an American politician from the state of Massachusetts. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he was twice a Massachusetts Republican nominee for the United States Senate, and served as the chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party from 1987 to 1991.In 1982, Shamie, a millionaire...
lost a close uphill battle to Lt. Gov. John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
for the Senate seat vacated by Paul Tsongas
Paul Tsongas
Paul Efthemios Tsongas was a United States Senator from Massachusetts from 1979 to 1985. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 1992 presidential election. He previously served as a U.S...
.
Republicans lost their Senate majority in the November 1986 midterm elections. Nevertheless, Finkelstein's leading clients won re-election—Alfonse D'Amato in New York, and Don Nickles
Don Nickles
Donald Lee Nickles is an American businessman and politician who was a Republican United States Senator from Oklahoma from 1981 until 2005. He was a fiscal and social conservative.-Early life:...
in Oklahoma. However, his candidate to succeed John East
John East
John East was a 19th-century Anglican clergyman and writer.At Oxford he was a friend of William Henry Havergal.He became:* Rector of Croscombe, Somerset * Curate of St Michael's, Bath* Rector of St Michael's, Bath from 1843 John East (died 1856) was a 19th-century Anglican clergyman and writer.At...
in North Carolina, David Funderburk
David Funderburk
David Britton Funderburk was the ambassador of the United States to Romania from 1981 to 1985, and a U.S. Representative from North Carolina, serving as a Republican between 1995 and 1997....
, lost his primary, and he fared no better in Ohio, where Congressman Tom Kindness
Tom Kindness
Thomas Norman Kindness was a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Ohio from January 3, 1975 to January 3, 1987....
made little headway against incumbent Sen. John Glenn
John Glenn
John Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...
. Finkelstein also steered Californian Elton Gallegly
Elton Gallegly
Elton William Gallegly is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 23rd and 21st, serving in Congress since 1993. He is a member of the Republican Party.-Early life, education, and pre-congressional career:...
to his initial victory for Congress.
In 1985-87, Finkelstein was part of the team advising former U.N. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick
Jeane Kirkpatrick
Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick was an American ambassador and an ardent anticommunist. After serving as Ronald Reagan's foreign policy adviser in his 1980 campaign and later in his Cabinet, the longtime Democrat-turned-Republican was nominated as the U.S...
for a possible campaign for the Presidency. Kirkpatrick ultimately declined to run.
The Florida Senate contest of 1988—closest in the country that year—was among Finkelstein's signature efforts. Congressman Connie Mack III
Connie Mack III
Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy III , popularly known as Connie Mack, is a former Republican politician. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Florida from 1983 to 1989 and then as a Senator from 1989 to 2001. He served as chairman of the Senate Republican...
won a tougher-than-expected primary, but his campaign did not wait for the results of the early-October Democratic runoff. The consultant determined (correctly) that Congressman Buddy MacKay
Buddy MacKay
Kenneth Hood "Buddy" MacKay, Jr. is an American politician and diplomat from Florida. A Democrat, he was briefly the 42nd Governor of Florida following the death of Lawton Chiles on December 12, 1998. During his long public service career he was also state legislator, U.S. Representative, Lt...
would emerge from the bitter face-off, and began running TV and radio ads re-defining MacKay through his liberal voting record, with the tagline, "Hey Buddy, You're a Liberal." MacKay's primary campaign had focused on ethics—appropriate for defeating Democrat Bill Gunter
Bill Gunter
William Dawson "Bill" Gunter, Jr. was an American politician from the state of Florida.-Early life and education:Gunter was born in Jacksonville in 1934. He attended public schools in Live Oak and received his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Florida in 1956...
, but useless against Mack—and he failed to blunt the ideological attack. Still, the "Hey Buddy" ads were unpopular with the press, and 22 of 23 Florida newspapers endorsed MacKay.
Mack continued to press the liberal vs. conservative contrast in debates and ads, closing with endorsements by the highly popular Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
and George H.W. Bush, plus footage of MacKay endorsing various tax increases. A slight majority of voters casting ballots on Election Day backed MacKay, but an aggressive GOP absentee program had already banked a margin of tens of thousands of votes, and Mack was elected senator.
Focus on New York, 1989–94
Brooklyn native Finkelstein had long advised local and state party organizations in New York (e.g., the WestchesterWestchester
Westchester may refer to:*Westchester, Connecticut*Westchester, Florida*Westchester, Illinois*Westchester, Indiana*Westchester, Los Angeles, California*Westchester County, New York*The Westchester, a shopping mall in White Plains, New York...
, Nassau
Nassau County, New York
Nassau County is a suburban county on Long Island, east of New York City in the U.S. state of New York, within the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,339,532...
and Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
County GOP). In 1989, he dove into the contentious world of New York City politics. Rudolph Giuliani's initial candidacy for Mayor was met with a primary challenge by cosmetics billionaire Ronald Lauder
Ronald Lauder
Ronald Steven Lauder is a Jewish-American businessman, civic leader, philanthropist, and art collector. Forbes lists Lauder among the richest people of the world with an estimated net worth of $3.0 billion in 2007.-Life and career:...
, backed by Sen. D'Amato and guided by Finkelstein. The Giuliani-D'Amato feud had begun in 1988 over the selection of Rudy's successor as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York; it colored Republican politics in the Empire State for the next several years. In this first skirmish, Lauder's millions of dollars' worth of hard-hitting advertising failed to prevent Giuliani's winning the GOP nomination. (Giuliani later blamed Lauder's primary ads for his narrow loss to David Dinkins
David Dinkins
David Norman Dinkins is a former politician from New York City. He was the Mayor of New York City from 1990 through 1993; he was the first and is, to date, the only African American to hold that office.-Early life:...
that November.)
A year later, in the disastrous 1990 gubernatorial election, GOP nominee Pierre Rinfret nearly finished in third place (behind Conservative Party of New York State upstart Herbert London
Herbert London
-Early life:He was born in Brooklyn, New York circa 1939 and attended Columbia University, graduating in 1960. Standing 6'5", he was drafted by the Syracuse Nationals of the National Basketball League, but did not play for them because of injuries. He was a social studies secondary school teacher...
). D'Amato, and by extension Finkelstein, assumed dominance over the moribund state party apparatus. Long-time Rensselaer County activist William Powers
William Powers (politician)
William Powers is a New York Republican Party political activist. Before becoming the Republican state chairman, Powers was the chairman of the Rensselaer County Republican Committee....
, a staunch D'Amato ally, was named chairman, and began the rebuilding process.
In the meantime, D'Amato faced mounting ethical problems, and these occupied much of Finkelstein's time in 1990 and 1991. Though the New York senator was ultimately cleared by the Senate Ethics Committee in 1991, he was the subject of ceaseless negative news stories and editorials. When CBS's 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
ran a highly damaging story on D'Amato, Finkelstein produced a response program that refuted many of its charges and misstatements. All the while, D'Amato's aggressive casework program and advocacy for New York interests was emphasized in paid and earned media. Nevertheless, going into his 1992 re-election campaign, D'Amato was shown in surveys to be a near-certain loser to most prospective challengers.
When the Democrats nominated Attorney General Robert Abrams
Robert Abrams
Robert Abrams is an American lawyer and politician.-Life and career:He graduated from Columbia College and the New York University School of Law. He is considered a member of the reform wing of the Democratic Party.Abrams was a member of the New York State Assembly representing the Bronx from 1966...
in September, Finkelstein's polls showed D'Amato down 25 points, just seven weeks before the election. Making matters worse was the huge lead enjoyed by Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
in New York; the Bush-Quayle ticket was a positive drag on D'Amato's chances. As with the Mack-MacKay race in 1988, Finkelstein moved to define Abrams by his liberal positions on issues. Support for a single-payer national health scheme was translated into "a 6% tax on every job in America"—a contention never challenged. His backing for other tax increases was documented and publicized in TV and radio ads, with the tagline, "Bob Abrams: Hopelessly liberal."
The D'Amato campaign was no less bold on the ethics issue, repeating pay-for-play charges made by ex-Rep. Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Anne Ferraro was an American attorney, a Democratic Party politician, and a member of the United States House of Representatives. She was the first female Vice Presidential candidate representing a major American political party....
during the Democratic primary, with ads featuring excerpts from the Abrams-Ferraro debate. When news stories late in the campaign revealed the nominee's disallowed business-tax deductions, Finkelstein's closing ad ran: "Bob Abrams never met a tax he didn't like... except his own." On Election Day 1992, as Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
was winning New York State by 16 points, D'Amato won re-election by 1.2 points, a margin of 80,794 votes—with a wave of Clinton-D'Amato split-ticket voting in Brooklyn, Queens and Buffalo the deciding factor.
Finkelstein had several other results that day. In New York City, he and Ronald Lauder
Ronald Lauder
Ronald Steven Lauder is a Jewish-American businessman, civic leader, philanthropist, and art collector. Forbes lists Lauder among the richest people of the world with an estimated net worth of $3.0 billion in 2007.-Life and career:...
guided to victory a measure limiting the terms of elected city officials. In North Carolina, he helped the Ellis-Wrenn-Congressional Club team guide businessman and former Democrat Lauch Faircloth
Lauch Faircloth
Duncan McLauchlin "Lauch" Faircloth , served one term as a Republican U.S. Senator from North Carolina.Before his Senate service, Faircloth was a prominent and wealthy hog farmer...
to victory over incumbent Sen. Terry Sanford
Terry Sanford
James Terry Sanford was a United States politician and educator from North Carolina. A member of the Democratic Party, Sanford was the 65th Governor of North Carolina , a two-time U.S. Presidential candidate in the 1970s and a U.S. Senator...
. His client Don Nickles
Don Nickles
Donald Lee Nickles is an American businessman and politician who was a Republican United States Senator from Oklahoma from 1981 until 2005. He was a fiscal and social conservative.-Early life:...
easily won a third term as senator from Oklahoma. But in Illinois, the candidacy of Rich Williamson failed to defeat Democrat Carol Moseley Braun
Carol Moseley Braun
Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun is an American feminist politician and lawyer who represented Illinois in the United States Senate from 1993 to 1999. She was the first and to date only African-American woman elected to the United States Senate, the first woman to defeat an incumbent senator in an...
to replace Sen. Alan Dixon.
D'Amato's comeback win had demonstrated the Republicans' window of opportunity in New York City's outer boroughs, among working-class Catholics and (especially) Jewish voters angered by Democratic leaders' handling of the Crown Heights
Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The main thoroughfare through this neighborhood is Eastern Parkway, a tree-lined boulevard designed by Frederick Law Olmsted extending two miles east-west.Originally, the area was known as Crow Hill....
violence and subsequent incidents. The senator's ticket-splitting performance had the effect of shielding downticket candidates from the Bush debacle, and Republicans actually made Congressional gains in strong D'Amato areas—e.g., working-class Buffalo (Jack Quinn
John Quinn (politician)
John Quinn of New York, born in County Tipperary, Ireland, was a U.S. Representative from New York from 1889 to 1891. At death, he was 64.- Source :...
), and suburban Long Island (Rick Lazio
Rick Lazio
Enrico Anthony "Rick" Lazio is a former U.S. Representative from the state of New York. Lazio became well known nationally when he ran against Hillary Rodham Clinton for the U.S. Senate in New York's 2000 Senate election...
)—while holding the majority in the powerful State Senate. This strengthened the hand of D'Amato, Finkelstein and Powers going into 1993 and 1994.
Giuliani's second Mayoral campaign in 1993 benefited from the resurgent New York GOP. D'Amato and Finkelstein did not again back a primary challenger. This time, Giuliani ran a more effective race, riding to victory on a wave of discontent with incumbent David Dinkins
David Dinkins
David Norman Dinkins is a former politician from New York City. He was the Mayor of New York City from 1990 through 1993; he was the first and is, to date, the only African American to hold that office.-Early life:...
, with even stronger turnout among ethnic Catholics and Jewish voters than in 1989, and in the same areas where D'Amato had done well a year earlier. His win raised the question: could Republicans capture the biggest prize of all—the New York Governorship—and defeat the most successful Democrat in the state, Mario Cuomo
Mario Cuomo
Mario Matthew Cuomo served as the 52nd Governor of New York from 1983 to 1994, and is the father of Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York.-Early life:...
?
Finkelstein had specialized in federal elections to this point, and it was uncertain how he would adapt to the localized issues and personal style of a gubernatorial contest. Reluctantly at first, and only after considering several alternative candidates, he and D'Amato settled on supporting little-known State Senator George Pataki
George Pataki
George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006.- Early life :...
of Peekskill for Governor in 1994. They guided him through the State Convention in May, and to a smashing 3-to-1 primary victory in September over Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
's longtime political wheelhorse Richard Rosenbaum.
The main challenge was defining the race against Cuomo. Finkelstein's first ad radiated disappointment and sowed seeds of disbelief: "Desperate candidates do desperate things... Mario Cuomo
Mario Cuomo
Mario Matthew Cuomo served as the 52nd Governor of New York from 1983 to 1994, and is the father of Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York.-Early life:...
could have been senator or President...." Subsequent spots, often as brief as 10 seconds, highlighted Cuomo-era failures (e.g. snarled traffic and record-high utility rates in Long Island), his opposition to the death penalty, and especially the litany of tax increases over his 12 years. The persistent tagline: "Mario Cuomo: Too liberal for too long." Pataki introduced himself in ads first as a gentle reformer, then angry in responding to Cuomo attacks, and finally enthusiastic (in excerpts from rally speeches at campaign's close). Cuomo defended his record and played up D'Amato's sponsorship of Pataki's campaign (to the tune of Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
's "You Can Call Me Al
You Can Call Me Al
"You Can Call Me Al" is a song by Paul Simon, the first single released from his album Graceland. The song originally charted in the U.S. at No. 44 in October 1986 but it was reissued with greater promotion in March 1987 and hit No. 23. In the UK it peaked at No. 4, while in Sweden and the...
"), but had trouble overcoming the anti-incumbent tide.
Pataki had a slight lead in public surveys when, on October 24, Giuliani endorsed Cuomo, with attacks on his fellow Republican quickly becoming a staple on evening news programs. Poll numbers fluctuated wildly, with Finkelstein's own tracking survey showing a Cuomo lead ballooning to 13 points within days. It required a swift response. He elected to attack Giuliani's endorsement as a corrupt deal with Cuomo, the ad using headlines citing suspiciously timed New York State grants to the City to suggest the Governor used taxpayer money to buy the Mayor's backing.
The pendulum swung back, with negative reaction to Giuliani especially strong Upstate and in the Metro North and Long Island suburbs. (GOP protestors even chased the Mayor's plane on an airport tarmac during a statewide flyaround for Cuomo.) Pataki closed the sale with an energetic tour of the state, appearing alone on a WCBS-TV Election Eve program when Cuomo refused a one-on-one debate. The final result: Pataki defeated Cuomo by 4 points. In an historic Republican landslide year, Mario Cuomo was the most prominent Democrat to fall. As Todd Purdum
Todd Purdum
Todd Stanley Purdum is a national editor and political correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine.-Early life and education:Purdum is a son of Jerry S. Purdum, a Macomb, Illinois insurance broker, investor, and realtor, and Connie Purdum. He was graduated from St...
of The New York Times wrote that November, "For good or ill, Mr. Pataki's campaign [wa]s almost entirely a creation of Mr. Finkelstein."
Four fateful years, 1995–98
Following Election Day 1994, D'Amato and Finkelstein were handed a new challenge and opportunity, as the 14-year incumbent was named by his Senate peers as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial CommitteeNational Republican Senatorial Committee
The National Republican Senatorial Committee is the Republican Hill committee for the United States Senate, working to elect Republicans to that body. The NRSC was founded in 1916 as the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee...
(NRSC), one of the four permanent GOP campaign operations in Washington. They had a tough act to follow—Phil Gramm
Phil Gramm
William Philip "Phil" Gramm is an American economist and politician, who has served as a Democratic Congressman , a Republican Congressman and a Republican Senator from Texas...
of Texas had just piloted Republicans to a 7-seat gain and recaptured control of the Senate.
For Finkelstein, it was his first bow as an inside player on a Washington campaign committee, his dealings previously being as representative of an individual candidate. Now he and D'Amato were responsible for helping to direct Senate campaigns in 33 states simultaneously. One of their first moves was to break the cycle of hiring parochial-minded Senate aides to manage the sprawling committee; their choice for Executive Director was John Heubusch (later a top executive with Gateway Computers). Another key hire was JoAnn Barnhart as Political Director; Barnhart was a long-time aide and campaigner for Sen. William Roth, and later served as Director of the Social Security Administration
Social Security Administration
The United States Social Security Administration is an independent agency of the United States federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors' benefits...
.
The NRSC faced several challenges beyond their control, many emanating from the two dominant Republicans of 1995–96, House Speaker Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich
Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....
and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
. The Oklahoma City bombing
Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
had given Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
an opportunity to marginalize his opponents, and slowed the momentum of the reform-minded Republican Congress. By late 1995, unrelenting Democrat/press attacks, and his own missteps, had turned Gingrich into a pariah through much of the country (2-to-1 unfav-fav ratio in surveys); meanwhile, Dole was running for President, and allowing ambition to overshadow his Senate work. In mid-1996, Dole resigned from the Senate to campaign full-time, but by then he was behind Clinton to stay, and eventually polled less than 41% nationwide.
D'Amato remained personally devoted to Dole, but Finkelstein and the NRSC team urged Republican Senate candidates to cut loose from unpopular national leaders and carve their own individual profiles on issues. D'Amato remained a champion fundraiser and the committee found new legal ways to deliver assistance to Senate campaigns and local parties. The NRSC paid particular attention to blunting the wave of millionaire political unknowns (e.g., Tom Bruggere
Tom Bruggere
Tom Bruggere is an entrepreneur and onetime candidate for the U.S. Senate in the U.S. state of Oregon. He founded the company Mentor Graphics and has been involved with several other startup companies....
in Oregon, Elliott Close in South Carolina) recruited that year by the Democrats. It also shored up many endangered incumbents, including Bob Smith
Robert C. Smith
Robert C. "Bob" Smith is an American politician who has served in both the United States House of Representatives and the Senate. He is a member of the Republican Party.-Early life:Smith was born in Trenton, New Jersey...
(New Hampshire), John Warner
John Warner
John William Warner, KBE is an American Republican politician who served as Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term United States Senator from Virginia from January 2, 1979, to January 3, 2009...
(Virginia), 75-year-old Jesse Helms
Jesse Helms
Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. was a five-term Republican United States Senator from North Carolina who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001...
and 94-year-old Strom Thurmond
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
.
On Election Night, as Clinton defeated Dole by nearly 9 points and Gingrich's House Republicans lost a net eight seats, Senate Republicans won open seats in Alabama, Arkansas and Nebraska, while losing South Dakota. In a poor GOP year, the D'Amato-Finkelstein NRSC had gained a net 2 seats (and narrowly missed another gain in the Cleland-Millner race in Georgia).
His own statewide clients in 1996 showed a mixed record, with Senator Larry Pressler (South Dakota) and ex-Senator Rudy Boschwitz
Rudy Boschwitz
Rudolph Ely "Rudy" Boschwitz is a former Independent-Republican United States Senator from Minnesota. He served in the Senate from December 1978 to January 1991, in the 96th, 97th, 98th, 99th, 100th, and 101st congresses. He was then defeated by Paul Wellstone.-Life and career:Boschwitz was born...
(Minnesota) both losing, albeit in close races. Bob Smith
Robert C. Smith
Robert C. "Bob" Smith is an American politician who has served in both the United States House of Representatives and the Senate. He is a member of the Republican Party.-Early life:Smith was born in Trenton, New Jersey...
survived with a 49% plurality win. Earlier in 1996, he also helped Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
oust Shimon Perez as leader of Israel. According to The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post is an Israeli daily English-language broadsheet newspaper, founded on December 1, 1932 by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post. The daily readership numbers do not approach those of the major Hebrew newspapers....
, "Finkelstein was largely responsible for the strategy that brought Netanyahu victory in the 1996 general elections."
But Finkelstein's greatest personal challenge that year came with the August issue of Boston magazine
Boston magazine
Boston is a monthly magazine concerning life in the Greater Boston area and has been in publication for more than 40 years.-About the magazine:The magazine is self-described as:...
, which revealed his private life as a homosexual; the ostensible excuse for the outing was that several Finkelstein clients had voted against gay-rights measures in Congress, and his work to elect them was therefore inconsistent and/or hypocritical. In September, D'Amato said, "I don't think a person's sexual orientation, his private life—a person's private life should be brought up and I think the question is offensive, it's wrong. He's a wonderful, decent person and whatever his sexual orientation is, that's his business." Most of Finkelstein's clients elected to continue using him as their pollster and strategist.
Finkelstein's next two years anchored him again in New York, for the simultaneous re-election campaigns of Senator D'Amato and Governor Pataki in 1998. The contests were as different as the candidates themselves, with the calm, earnest Pataki winning high approval ratings and discouraging stronger Democrats from challenging him. New Yorkers' approval of Republican executives was signalled with the landslide re-election of Giuliani as Mayor in November 1997. Finkelstein crafted a highly positive campaign for Pataki, focusing on fulfillment of promises from 1994 (e.g., tax cuts) and policy innovations (the STAR tax program for seniors). Raising $21 million, Pataki defeated New York City Council President Peter Vallone, Sr.
Peter Vallone, Sr.
Peter F. Vallone, Sr. is an American politician.- Background :His father, Judge Charles J. Vallone of the Queens County Civil Court, encouraged young Peter to broaden his horizons beyond the limited social interactions with other ethnic and religious groups than were encouraged in the pre-Vatican...
by 21 percentage points, polling 54.3%, the largest share by a Republican for Governor since Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
in 1958.
The abrasive, pugnacious D'Amato was another matter entirely. Since his narrow victory in 1992, his profile had grown more partisan Republican in this still-Democratic state. Summoning First Lady Hillary Clinton to testify before his Senate committee in 1995, and aggressive campaigning for Dole in 1996, damaged D'Amato in a state where Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
crushed the Kansan by nearly 2-to-1 (59.5% to 30.6%), doubling his 1992 margin over Bush. D'Amato's decision to divorce his wife after a long separation and announce his engagement to a young socialite was no help, and others recalled his mock-Japanese impression of O.J. Simpson case Judge Lance Ito
Lance Ito
Lance Allan Ito is an American Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, best known for his presiding decision during the O. J. Simpson murder trial. He currently hears felony criminal cases at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center.-Early life and career:Ito was born to Jim and Toshi Ito...
in 1995 (for which he was forced to apologize on the Senate floor).
D'Amato raised a record $26 million for the 1998 campaign, and Finkelstein went to work early shoring up his client's "Senator Pothole" image of close attention to local needs and the problems of individual New Yorkers. State polls showed a swing back to such issues as health care and social concerns, which needed to be addressed. The tagline of these ads: "Al D'Amato Cares, Al D'Amato Makes a Difference, Al D'Amato Gets Things Done."
The Democratic primary was ultimately between Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Anne Ferraro was an American attorney, a Democratic Party politician, and a member of the United States House of Representatives. She was the first female Vice Presidential candidate representing a major American political party....
and Brooklyn Congressman Charles Schumer
Charles Schumer
Charles Ellis "Chuck" Schumer is the senior United States Senator from New York and a member of the Democratic Party. First elected in 1998, he defeated three-term Republican incumbent Al D'Amato by a margin of 55%–44%. He was easily re-elected in 2004 by a margin of 71%–24% and in 2010 by a...
; Finkelstein prepared for both eventualities, and when Schumer won by a surprisingly large margin, he immediately began ads that raised questions about the candidate's work ethic. (As Congressman, Schumer had missed an inordinate number of committee meetings.) The unexpected line of attack stymied the Democrat in late September and early October, and despite his weaknesses D'Amato gamely held onto a lead.
All this changed with a remarkable show of hubris before a small audience of Jewish supporters in Brooklyn that October. First, D'Amato did a waddling impression of rotund Democratic Rep. Gerald Nadler. Next, he referred to opponent Schumer as a "putzhead" (a mangling of the Yiddish vulgarism "putz")—then, questioned later by reporters, D'Amato denied using the term, an evident lie contradicted by his own supporters (e.g., Ed Koch
Ed Koch
Edward Irving "Ed" Koch is an American lawyer, politician, and political commentator. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and three terms as mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989...
) present at the meeting. Film of the denial was turned into a Schumer TV ad within days.
Finkelstein's tracking survey the night of D'Amato's "putzhead" comment showed the senator leading Schumer by 10 points with two weeks to go. But the meltdown was quick and decisive, with Schumer's ads relentlessly driving the message of D'Amato's dishonesty and dislikeability. The Democrat's closing tagline was itself a homage to Finkelstein: "D'Amato: Too many lies for too long." Schumer won, 54.6% to 44.1%—a 20-point turnaround.
Recent clients and campaigns, 1999–present
In the 2000s, Finkelstein has spent more time working overseas than in previous decades, with clients in AlbaniaAlbania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
and the Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. He has continued to consult in Israeli elections, working for Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
, Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
and most recently Avigdor Lieberman. He also ran the successful campaign of Nir Barkat for Mayor of Jerusalem in 2008. Finkelstein began assisting the National Liberal Party
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
and the Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu
Calin Popescu-Tariceanu
Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu is a Romanian politician. He was the Prime Minister of Romania between 29 December 2004 and 22 December 2008...
in 2007.
Having twice steered Connie Mack III
Connie Mack III
Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy III , popularly known as Connie Mack, is a former Republican politician. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Florida from 1983 to 1989 and then as a Senator from 1989 to 2001. He served as chairman of the Senate Republican...
to Senate victories in 1988 and 1994, Finkelstein was in demand for the 2000 Florida contest upon Mack's retirement. His candidate was 10-term Congressman Bill McCollum
Bill McCollum
Ira William "Bill" McCollum, Jr. is a former Florida Attorney General. A Republican, he was Florida's 36th attorney general, taking office in 2007...
, and he helped clear the Republican field early in anticipation of a tough general election against Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson
Bill Nelson
Clarence William "Bill" Nelson is the senior United States Senator from the state of Florida and a member of the Democratic Party. He is a former U.S. Representative and former Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner of Florida...
. It was a nail-biter with many echoes of the 1988 Senate campaign, but a different result. As enthusiasm among Republican voters faltered in the final days (after revelations of George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's 1976 DUI conviction), GOP coattails and McCollum's slim lead disappeared, and Nelson was elected, 51% to 46%.
McCollum ran for the other Florida Senate seat on Democrat Bob Graham
Bob Graham
Daniel Robert "Bob" Graham is an American politician. He was the 38th Governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987 and a United States Senator from that state from 1987 to 2005...
's retirement in 2004, but succumbed to eventual Senator Mel Martinez
Mel Martinez
Melquíades Rafael Martínez Ruiz, usually known as Mel Martinez , is a former United States Senator from Florida and served as Chairman of the Republican Party from November 2006 until October 19, 2007, the first Latino to serve as chairman of a major party...
after low fundraising allowed the challenger to overcome his early lead. But McCollum was more successful in 2006, when he was the consensus GOP choice for Attorney General, and defeated Democrat Skip Campbell
Skip Campbell
Walter G. "Skip" Campbell was a member of the Florida Senate from Tamarac, Florida. He was the Democratic candidate for Florida Attorney General in 2006...
, 52.7% to 47.3%, polling well in a poor year for Republicans.
A 2004 open seat in Florida's 14th Congressional District allowed Finkelstein to help create a political dynasty, as he steered State Rep. Connie Mack IV
Connie Mack IV
Cornelius Harvey McGillicuddy IV popularly known as Connie Mack IV is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2005. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes Fort Myers and Naples....
to a narrow victory in a four-way primary, then general-election wins in 2004, 2006 and 2008. Mack's marriage to Congresswoman Mary Bono
Mary Bono
Mary Bono Mack is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 44th, serving since 1998. She is a member of the Republican Party. The district is based in Palm Springs and includes most of central and eastern Riverside County. Bono Mack sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee, and is...
led to Finkelstein's managing of her sharply contested (but successful) California campaign in November 2008.
Texas businessman David Dewhurst
David Dewhurst
David Dewhurst is the 41st and current Lieutenant Governor of Texas, serving under Governor Rick Perry since January 21, 2003. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as Texas Land Commissioner from 1999 to 2003. Dewhurst announced on July 18, 2011, that he was running for the...
first approached Finkelstein in 1993 about running for Governor; he advised Dewhurst against challenging George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. In 1998, he shepherded the millionaire to victory for the post of state Land Commissioner, then to two successive wins in 2002 and 2006 for the job of Lieutenant Governor (in Texas, a constitutionally powerful post).
Pataki's third gubernatorial campaign, in 2002, provided some fresh challenges to Finkelstein, including a contest for the Conservative Party of New York State nomination, a still-shrinking Republican base, and a strong third-party challenge from millionaire B. Thomas Golisano, running again on the Independence Party
Independence Party
Independence Party can refer to various political parties past and present throughout the world, such as:*Independence Party *Independence Party *Independence Party *Independence Party...
line. Finkelstein positioned Pataki as an economic conservative but far more moderate on social and spending issues than in previous campaigns. This shift won the endorsement of such Democratic stalwarts as SEIU leader Dennis Rivera
Dennis Rivera
Dennis Alexis Rivera Rodriguez is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler. He is one half of the first Undisputed Tag Team Champions in Puerto Rico, being recognized by both major promotions, the International Wrestling Association and World Wrestling Council, as champions during a single...
and state teachers' union president Randi Weingarten
Randi Weingarten
'Randi Weingarten is an American labor leader, attorney, and educator, the current president of the American Federation of Teachers , a member of the AFL-CIO, and former president of the United Federation of Teachers. New York magazine called her one of the most influential people in education in...
. Pataki enjoyed a 15-point victory, polling 48.3% to 32.7% for state Comptroller H. Carl McCall, and 14% for Golisano.
Finkelstein tried to make use of Pataki's likely coattails by helming the campaign of David Cornstein for the state Comptroller slot being vacated by McCall. Cornstein, a successful businessman and Giuliani's appointed chief of Off-Track Betting
Off-track betting
Off-track betting refers to sanctioned gambling on horse racing outside a race track.-US history:...
, brought personal resources and a strong finance team to the table. He was a longtime ally of both the Mayor and Governor, with a City / Long Island base and unusual appeal as a Jewish Republican running as a moderate-conservative. But party regulars fell in decisively behind former Upstate Assemblyman John Faso
John Faso
John Faso was the Republican nominee for Governor of New York in 2006, and was defeated by Democratic nominee Eliot Spitzer in the largest defeat for a Republican gubernatorial candidate in the state's history. This followed his loss to Alan Hevesi four years earlier in his run for State Comptroller...
, a onetime legislative leader for the GOP minority, and Cornstein abandoned his run in 2001. (Faso failed to expand his appeal beyond the limited Republican base, losing with 46.5% in November 2002; in 2006, Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...
crushed him, Faso polling just 29.2% in his bid for Governor.)
Back in New York, Finkelstein in April 2005, Finkelstein announced the organization of Stop Her Now
Stop Her Now
Stop Her Now was an internet-based 527 organization created by Republican political operative Arthur J. Finkelstein with the stated goal of stopping Hillary Clinton's presidential ambitions by defeating her in the 2006 New York State Senate race. The group sought to raise funds primarily through...
, a 527 committee dedicated to defeating then-Senator Hillary Clinton in the 2006 New York U.S. Senate race
New York United States Senate election, 2006
The 2006 United States Senate election in New York was held November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton ran for and would win a second term representing New York in the United States Senate...
. Clinton sailed to an easy re-election, and the PAC was not a factor in the contest.
In the titanic struggle over new stadium construction on Manhattan's West Side
West Side (Manhattan)
The West Side of Manhattan refers to the side of Manhattan Island which abuts the Hudson River and faces New Jersey. Fifth Avenue, Central Park, and lower Broadway separate it from the East Side. The major neighborhoods on the West Side are West Harlem, Morningside Heights, Manhattan Valley, Upper...
, Finkelstein was hired to defeat the proposal by Cablevision and its allies; they ultimately prevailed, and the new Yankee Stadium was instead built in the Bronx, next to the old ballfield site, opening in 2009.
Finkelstein also served as pollster for the 2004 primary challenge by conservative Pennsylvania Congressman Pat Toomey
Pat Toomey
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Toomey, Sr. is the junior United States Senator for Pennsylvania and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, Toomey served as a U.S. Representative for three terms, but did not seek a fourth in compliance with a pledge he had made while running for office in 1998...
against moderate incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter is a former United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter is a Democrat, but was a Republican from 1965 until switching to the Democratic Party in 2009...
, pairing with strategist Jon Lerner. Specter averted defeat narrowly only after massive assistance from the NRSC and Bush White House (and then switched parties after the 2008 election).
Campaign style and reviews
Finkelstein is known for his hard-edged political campaigns, which often focus on a single message with great repetition. He is credited with helping to make "liberal" a dirty word in the United States during the late 1980s and 1990s through the use of commercial messages such as this, intended to damage the image of Jack Reed:- That's liberal. That's Jack Reed. That's wrong. Call liberal Jack Reed and tell him his record on welfare is just too liberal for you.
He also helped create the idea for this commercial message about Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone
Paul Wellstone
Paul David Wellstone was a two-term U.S. Senator from the state of Minnesota and member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which is affiliated with the national Democratic Party. Before being elected to the Senate in 1990, he was a professor of political science at Carleton College...
:
- Paul Wellstone. Embarrassingly liberal. Decades out of touch.
While often successful, Finkelstein's tactics have sometimes backfired – in 1996, his repeated attacks against Wellstone may have helped galvanize Wellstone's liberal grass-roots base. Republican Sen. Rod Grams
Rod Grams
Rodney Dwight "Rod" Grams served the state of Minnesota in both the United States House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.- Early life :...
eventually condemned Finkelstein's negative ads against Wellstone as excessive; however, his client (former Sen. Rudy Boschwitz
Rudy Boschwitz
Rudolph Ely "Rudy" Boschwitz is a former Independent-Republican United States Senator from Minnesota. He served in the Senate from December 1978 to January 1991, in the 96th, 97th, 98th, 99th, 100th, and 101st congresses. He was then defeated by Paul Wellstone.-Life and career:Boschwitz was born...
) came closer that year than any GOP challenger to defeating a Democratic incumbent.
"Finkelstein is the ultimate sort of Dr. Strangelove, who believes you can largely disregard what the politicians are going to say and do, what the newspapers are going to do, and create a simple and clear and often negative message, which, repeated often enough, can bring you to victory," said Philip Friedman, a Manhattan consultant who got his start working for Finkelstein Democratic rival David Garth.
Republican strategist Roger Ailes
Roger Ailes
Roger Eugene Ailes is president of Fox News Channel, chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group. Ailes was a media consultant for Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W...
described Finkelstein as "a polling guy with creative talents".
"I think he's basically sort of a mad scientist," said John Fossel, chairman of Oppenheimer Funds, "and a scientist he is. He really understands numbers." Finkelstein polled in Fossel's unsuccessful Republican Congressional campaign in Westchester County in 1982. "We had a knock-down, drag-out over whether busing was an issue in Westchester. His polls told him it was. I said, 'I don't think it is, but if it is, it isn't to me,' and we didn't use it."
"He is one of the most creative people I have ever worked with," said Carter Wrenn, who worked on Republican campaigns for 20 years with Finkelstein in North Carolina. "He is brilliant in terms of analyzing polls and numbers. He has a unique combination of an analytical and creative mind.... This guy's a workaholic. He must work 18 hours a day.... If you need him, he comes."
"Just knock on his head, and he'll give you an idea."—Tom Ellis
Thomas F. Ellis
Thomas F. Ellis is an American lawyer and political activist involved in numerous conservative causes. His network of interests were described as "a multimillion dollar political empire of corporations, foundations, political action committees and ad hoc groups" active in the 1980s and developed by...
, cofounder of the National Congressional Club
National Congressional Club
The National Congressional Club was a political organization controlled by Senator Jesse Helms through the mid-2000s. It was described as a "vast and sophisticated enterprise." As a political fundraiser, Helms had few rivals...
, on Finkelstein.
Finkelstein's early style is described in an account of a Congressional primary race in Arizona.
Finkelstein has given advice to political candidates or elected officials to perform the "dance of the honest man", a metaphor for responding to "questions about transparency, honesty, or integrity" by imagining oneself as a typical, honest voter.
England's The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
: "In the 1996 election in Israel, Arthur Finkelstein, the American consultant who had turned 'liberal' into a swear word, used polling data to pinpoint precisely the issue over which Israelis would reject a deal with the Palestinians—the division of Jerusalem—and propel Benjamin Netanyahu to a victory based on exemplary scare-mongering."
Other business and associates
Finkelstein's office shares a small building with Diversified Research, a separate but related firm that executes telephone surveys and packages their results for political and business consultants (including some media pollsters).Over the past four decades, Finkelstein has been responsible for the early hiring and training of many successful Republican consultants and managers, including Tony Fabrizio, John McLaughlin, Jim Murphy, Alex Castellanos
Alex Castellanos
Alejandro "Alex" Castellanos is a U.S. Republican Party political media consultant who specializes in television advertising, and was a top media adviser to Bush Cheney '04 as well as Mitt Romney's presidential campaign....
, Kieran Mahoney, Jon Lerner, George Birnbaum
George Birnbaum
George E. Birnbaum is an American international political consultant. He was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and has worked on dozens of United States Congressional and Senatorial races...
, and Mitch Bainwol
Mitch Bainwol
Mitch Bainwol has been the chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America since 2003, succeeding Hilary Rosen. Prior to filling this position, he worked for 25 years in politics and federal policy-making. He and his wife Susan are parents of three children.-Early life and...
. Others who worked with Finkelstein and have gone on to have successful independent careers include Frank Luntz
Frank Luntz
Frank I. Luntz is an American political consultant and pollster. His most recent work has been with the Fox News Channel as a frequent commentator and analyst, as well as running focus groups after presidential debates...
, Larry Weitzner, Rick Reed and Roger Stone
Roger Stone
Roger J. Stone, Jr. is an American political consultant and lobbyist who specializes in opposition research for the Republican National Committee in the United States....
.
Freedom Tower inscription
Finkelstein is also reportedly the author of the words inscribed on the cornerstone of the Freedom Tower, which will be completed on the site of One World Trade Center in 2013. At the 2004 dedication, Gov. Pataki read aloud the inscription: "To honor and remember those who lost their lives on September 11th, 2001 and as a tribute to the enduring spirit of freedom—July Fourth, 2004."Current
- Romanian Prime Minister Călin Popescu-TăriceanuCalin Popescu-TariceanuCălin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu is a Romanian politician. He was the Prime Minister of Romania between 29 December 2004 and 22 December 2008...
- Florida Attorney General Bill McCollumBill McCollumIra William "Bill" McCollum, Jr. is a former Florida Attorney General. A Republican, he was Florida's 36th attorney general, taking office in 2007...
- Florida Congressman Connie Mack IVConnie Mack IVCornelius Harvey McGillicuddy IV popularly known as Connie Mack IV is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2005. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes Fort Myers and Naples....
- California Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack
- Former New Mexico Congressman Steve PearceSteve PearceStevan Edward "Steve" Pearce is the U.S. Representative for . He is a member of the Republican Party. He previously held the seat from 2003 to 2009 and was an Assistant Minority Whip.-Early life, education and career:...
- Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim ThaciHashim ThaciHashim Thaçi is the Prime Minister of Republic of Kosovo, the leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo , and former political leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army .-Early life and education:...
- Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey StanishevSergey StanishevSergei Dmitrievich Stanishev is a Bulgarian politician who was Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2005 to 2009; currently he is Chairman of the Bulgarian Socialist Party and Interim President of the Party of European Socialists...
- Czech Prime Minister Mirek TopolanekMirek TopolánekMirek Topolánek is a former prime minister of the Czech Republic and former President of the European Council. A member of the Civic Democratic Party, he was chairman of the center-right party between November 2002 and March 2010, succeeding Václav Klaus, who was elected President in 2003.On 24...
- Israeli politician Avigdor Lieberman
- Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat
- Bill Binnie, candidate for US Senate from New Hampshire
- Former Congressman Rick LazioRick LazioEnrico Anthony "Rick" Lazio is a former U.S. Representative from the state of New York. Lazio became well known nationally when he ran against Hillary Rodham Clinton for the U.S. Senate in New York's 2000 Senate election...
, candidate for Governor of New York
Former
- Former U.S. President Richard NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
- Former U.S. President Ronald ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
- U.S. Senator Orrin HatchOrrin HatchOrrin Grant Hatch is the senior United States Senator for Utah and is a member of the Republican Party. Hatch served as the chairman or ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1993 to 2005...
- Former U.S. Senator James L. BuckleyJames L. BuckleyJames Lane Buckley is a retired judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and previously served as a United States Senator from the state of New York as a member of the Conservative Party of New York from January 3, 1971 to January 3, 1977...
- Former U.S. Senator Jesse HelmsJesse HelmsJesse Alexander Helms, Jr. was a five-term Republican United States Senator from North Carolina who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001...
- Former U.S. Senator Strom ThurmondStrom ThurmondJames Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
- Former U.S. Senator Gordon Humphrey
- Former U.S. Senator Larry Pressler
- Former U.S. Senator John EastJohn EastJohn East was a 19th-century Anglican clergyman and writer.At Oxford he was a friend of William Henry Havergal.He became:* Rector of Croscombe, Somerset * Curate of St Michael's, Bath* Rector of St Michael's, Bath from 1843 John East (died 1856) was a 19th-century Anglican clergyman and writer.At...
- Former U.S. Senator Roger JepsenRoger JepsenRoger William Jepsen is an American politician from the state of Iowa. A Republican, he served in the United States Senate.-Biography :...
- Former U.S. Senator Alfonse D'Amato
- Former U.S. Senator Rudy BoschwitzRudy BoschwitzRudolph Ely "Rudy" Boschwitz is a former Independent-Republican United States Senator from Minnesota. He served in the Senate from December 1978 to January 1991, in the 96th, 97th, 98th, 99th, 100th, and 101st congresses. He was then defeated by Paul Wellstone.-Life and career:Boschwitz was born...
- Former U.S. Senator Lauch FairclothLauch FairclothDuncan McLauchlin "Lauch" Faircloth , served one term as a Republican U.S. Senator from North Carolina.Before his Senate service, Faircloth was a prominent and wealthy hog farmer...
- Former U.S. Senator Bob DoleBob DoleRobert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
- Former U.S. Senator Don NicklesDon NicklesDonald Lee Nickles is an American businessman and politician who was a Republican United States Senator from Oklahoma from 1981 until 2005. He was a fiscal and social conservative.-Early life:...
- Former U.S. Senator Bob SmithRobert C. SmithRobert C. "Bob" Smith is an American politician who has served in both the United States House of Representatives and the Senate. He is a member of the Republican Party.-Early life:Smith was born in Trenton, New Jersey...
- Former New York Governor George PatakiGeorge PatakiGeorge Elmer Pataki is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006.- Early life :...
- Former U.S. Representative Mickey EdwardsMickey EdwardsMarvin Henry "Mickey" Edwards is a former Republican congressman who served Oklahoma's 5th congressional district from 1977 to 1993.-Education and early career:...
- Former U.S. Representative Gerald Solomon
- Former U.S. Representative Jack KempJack KempJack French Kemp was an American politician and a collegiate and professional football player. A Republican, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, having previously served nine terms as a congressman for Western New York's 31st...
- Former U.S. Representative Denny SmithDenny SmithDennis Alan "Denny" Smith is a businessman and former United States congressman from the state of Oregon. A native of the state, he served in the Air Force before working in the airline industry and taking over the family's newspaper business. A Republican, he served ten years in Congress from...
- Former U.S. Representative Carroll Campbell
- Former U.S. Representative Bill CobeyBill CobeyWilliam Wilfred Cobey, Jr. is a former one-term Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina....
- Former U.S. Representative Robert K. Dornan
- Former U.S. Representative Duncan L. Hunter
- Former U.S. Representative Patrick Toomey
- U.S. Representative Elton GalleglyElton GalleglyElton William Gallegly is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 23rd and 21st, serving in Congress since 1993. He is a member of the Republican Party.-Early life, education, and pre-congressional career:...
- Former UN Ambassador Jeane KirkpatrickJeane KirkpatrickJeane Jordan Kirkpatrick was an American ambassador and an ardent anticommunist. After serving as Ronald Reagan's foreign policy adviser in his 1980 campaign and later in his Cabinet, the longtime Democrat-turned-Republican was nominated as the U.S...
- California State Senator Ed DavisEdward M. DavisEdward Michael Davis was the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from , and later a California State Senator from and an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the United States Senate in 1986...
- Terry DolanTerry Dolan (US political figure)John Terrence "Terry" Dolan was an American New Right political operative who was co-founder and chairman of the National Conservative Political Action Committee ....
's the National Conservative Political Action CommitteeNational Conservative Political Action CommitteeThe National Conservative Political Action Committee was a New Right political action committee in the United States that was a major contributor to the ascendancy of conservative Republicans in the early 1980s, including the election of Ronald Reagan as President, and that innovated the use of...
(NCPAC) - Current (and former) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin NetanyahuBenjamin NetanyahuBenjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
- Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel SharonAriel SharonAriel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
Finkelstein's firm has also done non-political work for a number of organizations:
- Time magazine
- Scott Paper
- McDonalds
- Quaker Oats
- Ledger Publications
- The Trump OrganizationTrump OrganizationThe Trump Organization is a limited liability corporation conglomerate based in Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York. The organization owns, operates, and develops hotels, resorts, residential towers, and golf courses in different countries, as well as owning several pieces of high-end real estate in...
- The opponents of the new stadium on the West Side of ManhattanManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
In 1988, Finkelstein was hired to do polling in the hotly contested Democratic primary for the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
.
Personal life
In 1996, Boston MagazineBoston magazine
Boston is a monthly magazine concerning life in the Greater Boston area and has been in publication for more than 40 years.-About the magazine:The magazine is self-described as:...
outed
Outing
Outing is the act of disclosing a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person's true sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. Outing gives rise to issues of privacy, choice, hypocrisy, and harm in addition to sparking debate on what constitutes common good in efforts...
Finkelstein as a homosexual in a feature story. In April 2005, Finkelstein acknowledged that in December 2004, he had married his partner of forty years in a civil ceremony at his home in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. This prompted former President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
to state that "I thought, one of two things. Either this guy believes his party is not serious, and is totally Machiavellian in his position, or there's some sort of self-loathing there. I was more sad for him."
Finkelstein is a self-identified libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
, and has increasingly distanced himself from social conservative
Social conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
elements within the Republican Party.
Quotes
- "Stupid people say stupid things." (Hebrew languageHebrew languageHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
paper MaarivMaarivMaariv is a Hebrew language daily newspaper published in Israel. It is second in sales after Yedioth Ahronoth and third in readership after Yedioth Ahronoth and Israel HaYom. In a TGI survey comparing the last half of 2009 with the same period in 2008, Maariv saw its market share fall slightly...
in 1999) - "The political center has disappeared, and the Republican Party has become the party of the Christian right more so than in any other period in modern history... Bush's victory not only establishes the power of the American Christian Right in this candidacy, but in fact established its power to elect the next Republican president." (MaarivMaarivMaariv is a Hebrew language daily newspaper published in Israel. It is second in sales after Yedioth Ahronoth and third in readership after Yedioth Ahronoth and Israel HaYom. In a TGI survey comparing the last half of 2009 with the same period in 2008, Maariv saw its market share fall slightly...
, 11/04)http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/122304/njgop.html - "From now on, anyone who belongs to the Republican Party will automatically find himself in the same group as the opponents of abortionAbortionAbortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, and anyone who supports abortion will automatically be labeled a Democrat." (MaarivMaarivMaariv is a Hebrew language daily newspaper published in Israel. It is second in sales after Yedioth Ahronoth and third in readership after Yedioth Ahronoth and Israel HaYom. In a TGI survey comparing the last half of 2009 with the same period in 2008, Maariv saw its market share fall slightly...
, 11/04)http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/122304/njgop.html - "She will put off Democrats from the center. In terms of the Republicans, Hillary Clinton is a wonderful candidate for the presidency." (MaarivMaarivMaariv is a Hebrew language daily newspaper published in Israel. It is second in sales after Yedioth Ahronoth and third in readership after Yedioth Ahronoth and Israel HaYom. In a TGI survey comparing the last half of 2009 with the same period in 2008, Maariv saw its market share fall slightly...
, 11/04) - "When you allow people to choose between the corrupt and the stupid, they will go for the corrupt." (Said in reference to a 2003 Israeli campaign) http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/607655.html
- Speaking to GOP congressional hopefuls in 1978: "If any of you do get elected, and chances are 19-to-1 you won't ... don't run your own campaign; don't let your spouse do it; and don't listen to the nice lady who praises the brilliance of your speech—she probably was the only one in the audience who thought so." He said Proposition 13 (just passed in California) shouldn't be inter-preted as "evidence people want services cut. They want taxes cut," and voters aren't sophisticated enough to understand that one leads to the other.
- He cited the 1965 New York mayoral campaign of John Lindsay, elected because "he promised to cut the budget in half and double the services. Four years later, when it was apparent that he had doubled the budget and cut services; Lindsay said, 'Yes, I made a mistake,' but he was re-elected when he promised to help end the Vietnam War."