Austinites Could Face Off as Aides in 2008 Presidential Race

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The voters will decide if it happens, but Austinites Mark McKinnon and Roy Spence – longtime friends and mutual admirers – could be en route to a head-to-head battle of strategy and communications in the 2008 presidential race.

McKinnon is top media adviser for Republican John McCain. Spence, in a recently stepped-up role, is a key adviser to Democrat Hillary Clinton.

"Pretty weird," was McKinnon's concise assessment of the possibility of strategizing against Spence in November.

McKinnon, a former Democratic media guru who was President Bush's top advertising adviser, signed on with McCain last year and has played an active role in designing the message for the candidate he helped defeat in the 2000 GOP primaries.

Spence has been on board with the Clintons since 1972 when the three of them worked for Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern's campaign in Texas.

McKinnon said Hillary Clinton's dependence on Spence "is not surprising given their long relationship and history."

"He is enormously talented, one of the most talented guys in the business," McKinnon said of Spence's track record pitching products. "He's the most passionate I've ever met and he will be an enormous asset to the Clinton campaign."

Spence describes his role with the Hillary Clinton campaign as "working day and night with my long-time friends — adviser, confidant and most of all, friend. That is about all I can say. It's an intense but amazing journey."

He categorizes McKinnon as "the best political marketing mind in America, period. No one comes close. He also is a great friend of mine who I respect and like so very much. Off to the races."

Spence said his role with Clinton is different from McKinnon's with McCain, a campaign in which McKinnon makes the big-picture calls on message and media.

"I am an idea guy who loves to harness the power of creativity to make a difference," Spence said, "whether it is in the commercial world, Southwest Airlines or BMW, or the public service world, Don't Mess with Texas or all the work we did pro bono with former presidents Bush and Clinton on the tsunami and Katrina relief funds."

"But I do not do the business of political advertising as an ad agency person or part of my business, but as a friend and adviser to people I believe in," Spence said.

Spence is a co-founder of Austin's GSD&M ad agency, an operation he helped build into a national power. Last August, in a move that took him a step back from day-to-day operations, Spence dropped the president title and became chairman and chief executive as part of a management overhaul.

The change was announced to employees at a presentation that included a video with greetings from former President Clinton.

"We are going through that transformation from a founder-driven organization to a net-generation-driven organization," Spence said at the time. "GSD&M was born in the Age of Aquarius, and this one will be born in the digital age."

Spence describes himself as a trusted friend and confidant to Hillary Clinton.

"I play under the radar," he said last July.

When Spence, 59, and the the Clintons pushed for McGovern in Texas, they worked along with Garry Mauro, a longtime Texas Democratic stalwart and former land commissioner and gubernatorial nominee now also working with the Clinton campaign.

"We may be the longest-standing friends in politics," Spence said in July of his ties to the Clintons, who have held events at his GSD&M offices and his home.

Spence also has been a key player for Texas Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett when, at age 26, he won a state Senate seat. Other friends who have benefited from Spence's aide include the late Gov. Ann Richards and Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, and Gov. Mark White. McKinnon also worked for White.

At age 34, Spence steered Walter Mondale's TV advertising in his 1984 loss to Ronald Reagan.