Democrats Star for GOP Stalwart

DES MOINES — Kevin Schmidt is a political party crasher, a celebrity-hound on a one-man quest for a big-picture payoff: snapshots of himself with each person in the gaggle of Democratic presidential candidates.

Camera in hand, he has pursued White House hopefuls at pig roasts and clambakes across Iowa. He bides his time, loitering in the shadows. Then, click!, he escapes with such trophies as himself, clad in a Hawaiian shirt, standing next to a smiling John Edwards or Dick Gephardt. There’s one of John F. Kerry side-by-side with a beaming Schmidt carrying his 3-year-old son on his shoulders.

But Schmidt is no fan. He’s not even a Democrat. The 27-year-old father of two is a conservative Republican who posts his campaign snapshots -- and prickly commentary -- on his political website, ninedwarfs.com.

The self-professed political junkie stalks the candidates not because he wants to vote for them, but because he wants to learn what makes them tick.

“I’m a big history buff, not just an autograph hound, and these people are part of American politics,” he says. “They’re decision makers -- senators, congressmen and governors -- and I just wanted to hear them talk and then maybe ask them a couple of tough questions.”

Standing 6-foot-7, Schmidt towers over the candidates, hence the name of his website.(Kerry actually comes close in height, if you add the coiffed-hair factor, Schmidt says.)

But there are also his takes on the candidates. Like Al Sharpton: “His campaign is a joke and, like a racehorse with a broken leg, it needs to be put down and turned into glue.”

Or Dennis J. Kucinich: “Mars. The man needs to go home.”

Or Kerry: “If you’re oblivious to the fact that John Kerry served in Vietnam, you’ve either been in a coma or need to have your hearing checked.”

For the irreverent Schmidt, it’s John “the Breck Girl” Edwards.

Not even Carol Moseley Braun escaped unscathed before dropping out of the race last week. “Who?” Schmidt asks of her candidacy. “Who? Exactly.”

Started as an insider joke, the website is now popular among Republicans and Democrats alike, attracting as many as 25,000 visitors a day, says Schmidt, a Des Moines Web developer. Even Howard Dean has been complimentary. Schmidt’s big break came last summer when Kerry supporters hounded him at a barbecue at Des Moines campaign headquarters. Their efforts to make sure he did not get a picture with Kerry resulted in news coverage that gave Schmidt and his website national exposure.

Schmidt says he was jostled by Kerry supporters who said, “We know who you are and we know why you’re here,” after circulating a “wanted poster” of Schmidt. He later published a picture of Kerry’s face atop a cartoon chicken, drawing laughs from Republicans and ire from Democrats.

“If they had just let me have my picture, everything would have been fine. But they made a mountain out of a molehill,” Schmidt says. “And if they’re worried about me, what will they do when [White House political strategist] Karl Rove comes to town?”

One Kerry advisor said campaign volunteers with little political experience had made things difficult for Schmidt, but that he eventually got his picture. “He’s harmless,” the advisor said.

Laura Capps, Kerry’s Iowa state director, calls Schmidt and his site humorous.

“It’s what the Iowa caucuses are all about, people having access to the candidates at Saturday afternoon back-lot barbecues,” she says.

Sarah Leonard, Dean’s Iowa campaign manager, says the website is well known around the candidate’s camp. “We just hope that if he spends enough time in our midst, we’ll be able to convert him into becoming a Democrat,” Leonard says.

Fat chance, says Schmidt. But if he had to make a choice among the Democrats, he gives the nod to Joe Lieberman (who isn’t competing in Iowa). “He’s the centrist. He started out as a centrist, not like the others, who will move toward the middle only after they receive the nomination,” he says.

Schmidt remains a Bush man. “These people all want to go back to the Clinton era of international relations where we had to go ask the United Nations before we did anything,” he says.

While on the hunt Schmidt plays it low-key, quaffing beers at campaign expense until he sees his opening. But then all bets are off and he tries to ask the candidate a hardball question -- criticizing Dean on his position on importing prescription drugs from Canada, or Dick Gephardt on his international minimum wage idea.

His easiest snapshot was of Sharpton: “There weren’t many people lining up to meet him. I think I was the only one,” he says.

In the end, he hopes his barbs evoke some laughs. “Hey, if you can’t laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?” he says. “It’s been an honor to meet all of these candidates, whether I agree with them or not.”

Even though Braun has left the race, Schmidt has no plans to rename his website to eight dwarfs.com. This week, he plans to start a new site, one dwarf.com, for the upcoming general election campaign.