It was Halloween 2001, and Kennesaw State freshman Nick Ayers was sitting anxiously in an Atlanta airplane hangar. A friend had recommended him for a campaign position with Republican state senator Sonny Perdue, who was mounting a long-shot gubernatorial run against Democratic incumbent Roy Barnes. The portly, middle-aged politician disembarked his Bellanca Super Viking and, as Ayers recounts the story, walked down the stairs holding a lid-less cup of coffee. Eager to make a good first impression, the nervous blonde teenager extended his hand for a firm shake. "Hi, I'm Nick Ayers," he said, and as they shook, the coffee spilled all over the politician's pants. In Ayers' mind, the interview was already over.
He was wrong. What was supposed to be a 30-minute meet-and-greet turned in to a three-hour discussion of principle, faith, and motivation. That moment began Ayers' breakneck ascent in the world of Republican politics, culminating eight years later in his current gig as the executive director of the Republican Governors Association (RGA). He was the one to huddle with Sarah Palin in Alaska not long before her July resignation, and to give obligatory comments to the press after Mark Sanford admitted his affair in a June press conference.
Until recently, Ayers had largely remained out of the national spotlight. But with two governors' races this week and 37 governors' slots up for grabs next year--and with nearly every 2012 Republican presidential contender currently a governor or former governor--his role is anything but marginal. Just consider the RGA's domain name: www.theGOPcomeback.com.
Ayers is an unlikely leader of the charge. Most kids with his dossier are sleeping in their parent's basements: 27 years old and no college degree (he's still taking classes remotely). But behind his deep dimples and Southern accent is a true movement conservative, brimming with confidence. His plans for a Republican comeback are aggressive: By 2010, the GOP will hold a majority of the governors' mansions; that, in turn, will lead to winning back the House, the Senate, and the White House. And it all starts … tomorrow, when voters in Virginia and New Jersey could put his plan in motion. "I think the only thing Nick lacks is that he hasn't lost anything yet," one former colleague told me. "Nick wins."
Ayers grew up in Newt Gingrich's former district in Georgia, the child of parents who voted for Bill Clinton and Ross Perot. Known as "Eddie Haskell" in high school, he was never particularly interested in the classroom but always in politics. In high school, he started working at a local bank owned by Barnes, the Democratic governor, where he harbored the dream of someday becoming a bank president. Ayers, who had always considered himself a conservative but not necessarily for one party, become known as "The Republican" among Barnes' liberal employees. Still, he was, as he puts it, "high on" Bill Clinton and his state's longtime Democratic governor, Zell Miller.
It was at Kennesaw State that Ayers became heavily involved with the College Republicans. The state's Republican Party, out of executive power for over 100 years, was disorganized and ineffective; College Republicans filled that vacuum, drawing crowds of as many as 3,000 for their rallies--an achievement that caught the attention of politicians like Perdue. After Ayers became president of the Kennesaw State chapter, a friend in the group recommended him to Perdue in the candidate's search for young talent.
From the first three-hour conversation on the tarmac, Ayers and Perdue hit it off. "By the time we left," Ayers recently told me in his Washington, DC, office, "… we realized that while we were in very different places in life--I was 19-years-old and a college freshman, and working for the incumbent governor at his local bank--we shared a similar strong faith in God." To his parents' dismay, Ayers quit his job, left school, and became the dark horse candidate's right hand. Within a week, Ayers was with Perdue on the Super Viking flying out to Bonaire, Georgia--the first of many signs that Perdue was taking Ayers seriously and bringing him into the fold.
