George Gorton
George Gorton | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 30, 1947 |
| Died | May 11, 2022 (aged 75) |
| Citizenship | U.S. |
| Education | San Diego State University |
| Occupations | Political consultant, Pollster, |
| Known for |
|
Political party | Republican |
| Children | A.J. Gorton, Steven Moore |
George Gorton (1947 – 2022) was a Republican political consultant from California, who worked on the elections of presidents, senators, governors, mayors, and international leaders in Russia, Panama, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Canada, among other places.[1][2]
His four-month[3] involvement in Boris Yeltsin's reelection campaign, along with his partners Joe Shumate and Dick Dresner, was the subject of a ten-page cover story in Time magazine,[4] and a major motion picture (Spinning Boris) where George, the central figure in the movie, is played by Jeff Goldblum.[5] Gorton pretended to be a flat-screen TV salesman, but was in fact helping Yeltsin's politically inexperienced daughter Tatiana Dyachenko to run Yeltsin's campaign. He was paid $250,000. Along with collaborators Richard Dresner and Joe Shumate, he leveraged Russian fears of civil war to present Yeltsin as the more stable choice.[3]
Gorton served on the national campaign teams of Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan. He managed all of Governor Pete Wilson's successful gubernatorial and US Senate races.[6] He was the first political consultant hired by Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2000 and was the chief strategist for his campaign for governor in 2003.[7][8][9]
References
- ↑ "George Gorton, political strategist and world traveler, dies at 75". June 2022.
- ↑ Diego, Voice of San (June 23, 2008). "From San Diego to Moscow: George Gorton's Strange and Wild Assignments". Voice of San Diego. Retrieved August 10, 2026.
- 1 2 Klosterman, Chuck (2022). The Nineties. New York: Penguin Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-7352-1795-9.
- ↑ Kramer, Michael (July 15, 1996). "Rescuing Boris". Time. Retrieved August 6, 2009.
{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ↑ "The Americans in Moscow: How to Spin a Russian Election". New York Times. March 13, 2004. Retrieved August 6, 2009.
- ↑ Wallace, Amy (October 12, 1994). "The Mystic Behind Wilson's Mystique - Politics: Adviser met with guru before agreeing to run reelection bid". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 6, 2009.
- ↑ Bennett, Kelly (June 23, 2008). "From San Diego to Moscow: George Gorton's Strange and Wild Assignments (part 1)". Voice of San Diego. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
- ↑ Bennett, Kelly (June 23, 2008). "From San Diego to Moscow: George Gorton's Strange and Wild Assignments (part 2)". Voice of San Diego. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
- ↑ geoffreymoran20 (November 19, 2022). "Gorton Moore". Competitive Edge. Retrieved August 10, 2026.
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