Analysis: Surrogates' sideshows becoming the main event

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- It's hard to know, exactly, when the notion of "campaign surrogates" became so important.

In the really old days -- before cable TV, before the 24/7 Internet news cycle, before ubiquitous blogging -- the number of folks who could be said to be speaking on behalf of a campaign could be measured by fingers: the candidate, the wife, the spokesman, a few top advisers who spoke on background only and the vice presidential nominee. Not much more than that.

Looking back, that now seems quaint. Now, surrogates are a cheaper commodity. Sure, they operate at different levels: There are those who are really close-in to the campaign inner circle and sanctioned by the campaign (You will see these folks less frequently.). Then there are those who are somewhat plugged-in and participate in campaign conference calls to disseminate talking points. And finally, there are those who are not really plugged-in, but like to appear as if they are. All must be TV-ready at a moment's notice.

The problem for the candidates is that their surrogates are not gaffe-free. There is no surrogate training school or media prep course.

In fact, while the candidates have either a long primary campaign (Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama) or much of a lifetime in politics (Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain) to get some practice in handling the white-heat of a campaign, the surrogates are generally less schooled -- or less careful.

So, instead of buttressing the candidate and his positions, the surrogates all too often become sideshows. And distractions are dangerous when a campaign has a limited amount of time to sell its candidate and its message in a tight general election.

Remember when Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign had to ax Bill Shaheen, her New Hampshire campaign co-chair, after he said of Obama, "One of the things the Republicans are going to jump on is his drug use"?

He apologized, of course, but it put the Clinton campaign on the defensive, just as it was gathering steam in New Hampshire.

It gave the Obama campaign an opportunity to call the Clinton operation "desperate," so Shaheen had to go -- no matter how many disclaimers came from the Clinton folks saying he was "not authorized" in any way.

Then they had to say the same about Geraldine Ferraro, when she created a stir after saying Obama would not have been as successful in this campaign had he not been African-American. It was another case where the Clinton folks ran away, and fast.

Fast-forward to Obama's own headaches with surrogates. There was Wesley Clark, who recently indicated, "I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president."

Obama, who speaks about how much he values McCain's service whenever he can, couldn't distance himself from Clark fast enough.

McCain himself probably won the all-time speed record for "disowning" when he threw his friend and economic adviser, ex-Sen. Phil Gramm, under the Straight-Talk Express last week. Watch McCain back away from Gramm »

Gramm's mistake? He only said that we're all a bunch of "whiners" in a state of "mental recession." McCain could not find a microphone fast enough to declare that Gramm did not speak for him. Watch Gramm say America is in a "mental recession" »

The surrogates are a necessity for the candidates -- the airtime needs to be filled, reporters need to be fed and the campaign message needs to get out. One way the campaigns have tried to circumvent the need for so many surrogates (at least in print) is with conference calls with members of the bona fide team to explain policy.

Those are great, but they're not made-for-TV. So surrogates will continue, for better or worse.

Or both. As in the case of the Rev. Jesse Jackson's now-infamous pledge to cut Barack Obama's "nuts off," a swell moment picked up by a hot microphone while on a break in a TV appearance.

While Jackson is a legend -- a former presidential candidate and a major national civil rights organizer for decades -- he's probably not in the top tier of Obama-sanctioned surrogates, at least not now.

But, inadvertently, he did Obama a favor: He was complaining that Obama's speeches about "personal responsibility" and the importance of fatherhood were "talking down to black people." Watch Jackson's open mike gaffe »

The controversy underlined the content of those speeches -- and gave Obama a chance to reiterate them.

Only this time -- thanks to a (wayward) surrogate -- more people were paying attention.

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