War Room?

March 30, 2008 8:58 AM

ID this (Bill) Clinton campaign official in the documentary The War Room?

In the documentary movie The War Room about the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign, a large group of Clinton campaign officials are meeting around a large table just before a convention talking about the size of their Clinton signs.

Who is the man standing at the end of the room, somewhat annoyed, saying things along the lines of: "Now wait a minute Bob." "Let's get a decision on this." "I know this isn't the greatest policy decision ever..."

posted by jca to media & arts (15 comments total)

a screenshot would help
posted by matteo at 9:04 AM on March 30, 2008

Or a timecode at least, for those who have the dvd (I don't).
posted by mumkin at 9:12 AM on March 30, 2008

Well, it's not Carville or Stephanopolous, because you'd recognize those guys. Who else worked on the '92 Clinton campaign?

Yeah, a screenshot would help.
posted by box at 9:15 AM on March 30, 2008

Surprise, surprise, it's available in 10-minute YouTube slices. Can you find the guy there?
posted by mumkin at 9:17 AM on March 30, 2008

This YouTube video starting at 5:30.
posted by jca at 9:24 AM on March 30, 2008

This guy, who's talking about homemade vs professional signs? Maybe Paul Begala?
posted by box at 9:38 AM on March 30, 2008

Yes, the one standing in your screenshot. It's not Paul Begala.
posted by jca at 9:47 AM on March 30, 2008

(my quotes in the original question were pretty close considering it was from memory)
posted by jca at 9:48 AM on March 30, 2008

It looks like Harold Ickes to me. He is in the cast list at IMDB.
posted by iconomy at 10:00 AM on March 30, 2008

Not a lot of Ickes on Youtube, but here's a fairly lengthy interview with him (there's a big chunk of Ickes around 19:30). I'm not very good at this kind of stuff, but I think that ico might be right.
posted by box at 10:09 AM on March 30, 2008

Ickes does seem the best option so far. I've Google image-searched most of the men in the credits and he looks to be the matchiest. Like box, I claim no expertise in IDing people from 15 year old blurry video footage, though. Frankly, "Bill O'Reilly" was what first came to mind.
posted by mumkin at 10:51 AM on March 30, 2008

I think the telling similarities, given the age difference, are those huge ear lobes, the voice, and the baldness pattern.

Part of a comment from a review of the documentary: A segment from the Democratic Convention pits Harold Ickes against an operative who argues for distributing thousands of handpainted signs versus pre-printed blue placards is a hilarious reminder of what it's really like in the smoke-filled room.
posted by iconomy at 11:12 AM on March 30, 2008

ickes. totally.
posted by jouster at 1:28 PM on March 30, 2008

it's Ickes, 100%
posted by matteo at 2:03 PM on March 30, 2008

The guy at the table even says "Harold raised an issue ..."
posted by dhartung at 6:31 PM on March 30, 2008