Wall Street Journal: Mehlman’s New Job

ABC’s Jake Whitman Reports: In today’s Wall Street Journal, John Harwood and Brody Mullins report that President Bush’s 2004 campaign manager has a new client.

Ken Mehlman most recently chaired the Republican National Committee. Harwood and Mullins report he will now advice U.S. businesses on how to deal with changing political trends.

Mehlman will work for the Washington law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. Mehlman tells Harwood and Mullins, "We are moving toward universal access to health care," To respond to climate change, he adds, there will be "increased scrutiny of the emission of carbon."

Harwood and Mullins write that powerful corporations will face the threat of Web-based public relations warfare from opponents who need relatively few resources to have an impact.

"What you want are people who are creative at building coalitions… in a bipartisan way at the nexus of business and politics." Mehlman says, "The 212 miles between New York and Washington is shorter than it’s ever been."

"How do we get back to the time when you argued during the day and had a beer after work?" Mehlman told Harwood and Mullins. "That’s something I look forward to — particularly if someone else is paying."