"If proof were needed that our PM is a man untroubled by self-doubt, it came in his next sentence: 'So I think he'll be a bloody brilliant candidate for us'".
They also realised that to make the breakthrough strong leadership would have to convince the party that change needed to happen, and where necessary they would use positive-action measures such as the A list, or persuading Tory grandees to mentor brilliant candidates.
A brilliant and charismatic candidate promised change, change we could believe in, and told us that we could, yes, we could.
But they also acknowledge that he is a brilliant speaker and a candidate who should not be underestimated.
When I started, I imagined finding my dream candidate, a brilliant researcher with academic accolades and a scintillating personality who uses his or her spare time to bake large desserts for deserving co-workers.
A former senator from Tennessee who had earned national fame as an actor, particularly on the wildly popular "Law and Order", an imposing man with a six-foot-six frame andeepep bass voice, Mr Thompson was the sort of non-scary conservative who could rally the base without alienating the middle ground.The not-quite candidate did a brilliant job of playing on the right's expectations.
My suspicion: a brilliant blackmail strategy so that candidates will fork over hush money to lose Palin's endorsement.
Conflict of interest be damned.This all sounds like a formula for success: a brilliant pollster who will steer his candidate to the centre but who will not try to turn an election victory into a White House empire.
A candidate could have a brilliant debate performance and catch fire, and then follow in Carly's footsteps in the polling.
All we need to do is to go back to July of 2008, when then-candidate Obama made a brilliant overseas tour, in which he wowed our troops in the Middle East and brought out hundreds of thousands of cheering listeners for a speech in Berlin.
