Jerry Austin is probably best known as the campaign manager for Reverend Jesse Jackson's '88 Presidential Campaign that won 11 contests and led in delegates deep into the calendar...and he also served as manager, media consultant, advisor to names like Paul Wellstone, Carol Moselely Braun, Sherrod Brown, Paul Tsongas and many more. In this conversation, Jerry talks the '88 Jackson race and high points and lessons learned from decades working with some of the biggest names in American politics. Plus Jerry previews his book series TRUE TALES FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL...pulling together the best campaign war stories from a bipartisan coterie of top political consultants.
IN THIS EPISODE
Jerry grows up in a union household in the South Bronx…
Protesting the Vietnam War leads Jerry to a political career…
Jerry’s early connection to rising star and future Ohio Governor Dick Celeste…
A deep dive on Jerry’s time managing the 1988 presidential campaign of Reverend Jesse Jackson…
Jerry tells some great Willie Brown stories…
The first two moves he took to make Jesse Jackson a credible national candidate in 1988…
Wisconsin becomes a “make or break” state for Jackson in the ’88 primaries…
How closely was Reverend Jackson considered for the VP nomination n 1988…
Jerry’s thoughts on how Jackson ’88 blazed the trail for both Clinton '92 and Obama ’08…
Jerry’s involvement at the start of the career of now Senator Sherrod Brown…
Jerry’s integral role in the underdog upset win of Paul Wellstone in 1990…
The story of Paul Wellstone and Ted Kennedy in a heated argument on the Senate floor…
Jerry helps engineer the groundbreaking Senate win of Carol Moseley Braun in 1992…
Jerry talks the rise and fall of former Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker…
Jerry’s brought in to help on Paul Tsongas ’92 Presidential…
Jerry is an official observer during the “Pinochet plebiscite” in Chile…
Jerry talks the origin of his book series “True Tales from the Campaign Trail” and one of his favorite stories…
AND Art Agnos, Salvador Allende, David Axelrod, bagels and coffees, Robert Bork, Rudy Boschwitz, Boston People, Charlie Brown, Ted Brown, Virgil Brown, Cadillacs, Tony Celebrezze, Steve Cobble, the Dallas Cowboys, Alan Dixon, Bob Dole, Pete Domenici, duck hunting, Michael Dukakis, Susan Estrich, exit polls, Louis Farrakhan, gentile women, Al Gore, Al Hofeld, Tom Hsieh, Hunter College, Jerry Jones, Celinda Lake, Vito Marcantonio, matching funds, McDonalds' executives, Meridian MS, Howard Metzenbaum, George Mitchell, Walter Mondale, Dee Dee Myers, Barack Obama, pander bears, pariahs, Augusto Pinochet, pipe dreams, scrums, the Secret Service, Hank Sheinkopf, the Tampa Airport, Clarence Thomas, Tulsa, the UN, the US Communist Party, VW bugs, voice votes, Maxine Waters & more!