Keene, NH---early February 1996---snow, ice, blizzards, near zero temperatures—and Andy Beattie and Rick Jasculca decide to pull off a Saturday OUTDOOR RALLY for President Clinton on the Town Square. The event, later dubbed Jumanji on Ice (the movie was filmed there) became a presidential campaign trail epic. Andy and I shared a motel room (damn campaign mandate—and the first and last time I did so since the 70s). We slept in our long underwear, because—did I mention?--it was zero and the motel liked to conserve heat at night. Because the event site was essentially the main street of Keene, the majority of the venue had to be built out the night before the rally—and, by the night before I mean during the night. I remember arriving back out at the site at 2am, and there was Andy, fashionable in a long winter coat and ear-muffs and a scarf, chipping ice so that the press riser would be on solid ground. All this occurred after our dear friend Mort, doing an event 90 minutes up the road, invited our team to join his for dinner in a blizzard, then proceeded to prank us by having one of his teammates go on radio saying our event would likely be canceled or moved indoors because of the weather. Andy and I retaliated by persuading then-Governor Shaheen to call Mort, feign anger and tell him she was going to have to call the White House COS. Those were the days. I cant recall exactly the make-up of the rest of the team—I think Sam Jr and Jim Hickman were there—but come game day, it was magic. When I left the site to go to the airport to get POTUS, there were maybe a couple of hundred folks milling around. When I called Andy from the airport as AFI was landing, he said, Were set, 13,000 cheering enthusiasts out here. Bill Clinton loved it so much that after the rally and never ending rope line, he went store to store in town shaking hands, then stopped in campaign headquarters and made phone calls. I can still see my buddy Andy standing there, taking it all in, smile on his face, Woodstock hair in place, earmuffs keeping him warm. We worked many times since, including to this very day. One of his wonderful daughters interned at our firm. He ALWAYS talked about Kim and the girls. The thing about Andy is that he never had any agenda. He had a life, and he was really happy with that life. He wasnt ever in search of anything. He had it, he knew it—he just really loved people and doing advance work. And, he was so damn good at it that it seemed effortless. He wasnt an advanceman who happened to be a good guy. He was a good guy who happened to be a superb advanceman. As I prepare to mark the 4th anniversary of losing Judy, I think of Andy, Grace, Nancy Konigsmark Jordan, Jody Powell—and I think that maybe Billy Joel had it right--only the good die young. God bless Andy!
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 14:54:21 +0000
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