Democratic mastermind Michael Whouley is back in Boston. That’s good news for State Senator Stephen Lynch of South Boston, who’s running for US Congress, and gubernatorial hopeful Steve Grossman.

Political junkies know Whouley as the Democratic operative who called former vice-president Al Gore late on election night last November and told him not to concede; the result was the bitter, month-long post-election battle settled in President George W. Bush’s favor by the Supreme Court. Whouley, who ran Gore’s primary battles in New Hampshire and Iowa, is also credited with putting the nail in primary challenger Bill Bradley’s coffin, and with orchestrating Bill Clinton’s victory in the Florida straw poll during the 1992 primary campaign. He’s a veteran of Boston politics who first worked on Joe Timilty’s 1979 mayoral campaign (current Boston mayor Tom Menino oversaw Whouley’s work). Now, Whouley is working as a partner at the Dewey Square Group, a grassroots strategy and campaign firm with offices in Washington, Boston, and elsewhere.

His return to Boston comes after a two-year stint in Washington, DC. " We went down for the campaign and we returned when the school year ended, " says Whouley, who is married to former Massachusetts state representative Sally Kerans of Danvers.

Whouley says he needs a break from politics after the grueling campaign and post-campaign (33 days in Florida), but don’t expect that he’ll absent himself altogether from local campaigns. He’s expected to act as an informal adviser to Lynch, who hopes to fill the seat of the late Representative Joe Moakley. " Steve Lynch is a good friend of mine and I’m helping him out, " says Whouley. Gubernatorial hopeful Grossman, who formerly headed the Democratic National Committee, could also receive a boost from Whouley, who counts Grossman as a friend and says he plans to help him.

Whouley’s local presence could be a boon to presidential hopeful John Kerry, too. Though Whouley plans on taking a time-out from presidential politics, his ties to Kerry go back to his unsuccessful 1982 run for lieutenant governor. If Gore doesn’t run again, Kerry may try to get Whouley back on his team.

Issue Date: August 2 - 9, 2001