In the summer of 1980, Ronald Reagan campaign coordinator Lee Atwater turned to an aide who was in his mid-20s.
“Can you find 900 people for us in the next 40 days?” Atwater asked. “I sure can,” said Scot Faulkner, recalling, decades later, his “youthful certainty” that he could staff the general election campaign against President Jimmy Carter.
“On Augu…


