Democrat was a witty, blunt adviser

Chuck Campion was first exposed to politics as a child, when he campaigned for his grandfather, a representative in the Massachusetts legislature from Boston’s West Roxbury neighborhood.

“I went door-to-door with nominating papers for my grandfather when I was 7 or 8 years old,” he told The Washington Post, “and I remember how shocked I was when one lady said, ‘I can’t sign that. I’m a Republican.’ I had no idea what a Republican was.”

Campion, who died Wednesday at 62, spent his career helping Democrats seek the highest office in the land.

He was a political and public affairs adviser who specialized in presidential campaigns, notably those of Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis and Hillary Clinton, and was chairman of the Dewey Square Group, a Boston-based political consulting and lobbying firm that he co-founded 25 years ago.

He turned professional while at the University of Massachusetts, working for then-Massachusetts Gov. Dukakis over summer breaks. By the late 1970s, he was a special assistant to then-Vice President Walter Mondale.

In an interview Thursday, Mondale referred to Campion as his “trip director,” because he flew with him on Air Force Two and made sure everything went smoothly, down to the details of who had seats on the plane. In 2000, Democratic media consultant Robert Shrum was working for presidential candidate Al Gore and sought advice from Campion, a campaign colleague. Shrum wanted to know what Campion thought of Gore’s plan to give a speech on global warming in Michigan. “He said if we gave that speech, he might as well just go home,” Shrum recalled in his 2007 book, “No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner.”

At first, Shrum recalled, Gore didn’t listen but was later persuaded by his chief environmental adviser to drop the speech idea. Shrum dubbed Campion “one of the wittiest and bluntest political operatives in the business.”

Survivors include his wife of 33 years, Heather Pars Campion; two children, Maxwell Campion and Courtney Campion; his mother, Mary Richard; four sisters; and one brother.

He died of complications from stomach surgery, said his wife.

COURTESY Chuck Campion was a adviser who specialized in presidential campaigns.