Candidates « Talent and Organization

Talent and Organization

Presidential campaign organizations are hard at work.

this page updated January 19, 2012...the individual pages updated more frequently

Obama	Gingrich	Paul	Roemer	Romney	Santorum	Karger
former:	Perry	Huntsman	Bachmann	Johnson*	Cain	Pawlenty	McCotter

Barack Obama

The re-elect campaign, headquartered in Chicago, formally launched on April 4, 2011. Many of the key staff moved over from the White House or the DNC. Former White House senior advisor David Axelrod moved back to Chicago and is playing a key role as a consultant. Jim Messina, who was White House deputy chief of staff for operations and served as chief of staff on the 2008 campaign, is the campaign manager. Serving as deputy campaign managers are Jen Dillon O'Malley, who had been serving as executive director at the DNC, and Juliana Smoot, most recently White House social secretary, who was finance director on the 2008 campaign. Others who have moved over from the DNC include COO Ann Marie Habershaw, Mitch Stewart and Jeremy Bird from Organizing for America, and finance director Rufus Gifford. Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean moved over from serving as research director at the White House. At the DNC, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is chairman. Patrick Gaspard moved over from his position as White House political director to serve as executive director of the party starting March 1. Obama's 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe succeeded Axelrod at the White House as senior advisor and will coordinate between the campaign and the White House. The White House team is led by Bill Daley, announced as chief of staff on Jan. 6, 2011, although on Nov. 7 he turned over day-to-day responsibilities in the West Wing to Pete Rouse.

Newt Gingrich

The campaign has undergone rapid growth since Nov. 2011, building out organizations in the key early states. Michael Krull is the campaign manager; he previously served as national director of American Solutions. Joe DeSantis is communications director and Amy Pass is finance coordinator. The campaign appeared to be all but over in June; it suffered the mass resignation of more than a dozen senior staff and consultants on June 9, 2011. On June 21 the finance team quit. However, a series of strong debate performances kept Gingrich's candidacy alive.

Ron Paul

Jesse Benton, who served as communications director on Paul's 2008 presidential campaign and more recently managed Rand Paul's 2010 U.S. Senate race, is chairman of the Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee. John Tate is campaign manager. Prior to launch of the campaign Tate served as pesident of the Campaign for Liberty, the 501(c)4 lobbying organization formed June 2008. He joined Paul's 2008 presidential campaign as national political director, announced Jan. 26, 2008. Tate has over 20 years experience in Republican politics including work as an organizer on Pat Robertson's 1988 campaign. Debbie Hopper is assistant campaign manager for advance and events. Dimitri Kesari is deputy campaign manager. Gary Howard, Jr. is press secretary, John McArdle is finance director and Fritz Wenzel (Wenzel Strategies) is doing polling.

Buddy Roemer

Carlos Sierra started as campaign manager on July 11, 2011. He came to the campaign from his position as community outreach liaison for Sen. John McCain. He has worked for McCain since his University days, including on all of McCain’s national and statewide campaigns over the last eleven years; he was the Southwest coalitions director for McCain-Palin. Roemer focused much of his attention on New Hampshire, where Chris Buck is his top person.

Mitt Romney

Former Gov. Mitt Romney kept quite a few familiar faces from his 2008 campaign on at his Free & Strong America PAC and now at the Romney for President Exploratory Committee he announced on April 11. Leading the effort day to day is Matt Rhoades, who served as communications director on the '08 campaign. Beth Myers, Peter Flaherty and Eric Fehrnstrom, also from the '08 campaign, continue as senior advisors. Stewart Stevens is strategist, Rich Beeson is political director, Gail Gitcho and Andrea Saul head the communications team, and Spencer Zwick is finance chair.

Rick Santorum

Among the key players on former Sen. Santorum's team are campaign manager Mike Biundo, who originally signed up during the PAC phase as NH director and then served as national political director, senior advisor and media consultant John Brabender, who has served as media consultant for Santorum since his first race for Congress in 1990, senior communications advisor Hogan Gidley, brought on in the latter part of July, senior communications advisor and spokeswoman Virginia Davis, and director of policy and speechwriting Seth Liebsohn. Amanda Kornegay is finance director.

Fred Karger

(campaign focused on NH) Karger himself is campaign manager. Rina Shah started March 1, 2011 as communications director; she most recently worked for a couple of years on Capitol Hill as a schedule coordinator and has also worked in TV news and as a freelance writer. Kevin Miniter, a 2005 Georgetown University graduate (interdisciplinary studies), was the first staffer starting in 2010, as Karger's traveling aide; he has moved to New Hampshire in early July 2011. Brian Wilson, based in L.A., is CFO. Nathan Treloar served as Iowa state director from Nov. 2010 (announced Nov. 22) through June 2011.

former candidates:

Rick Perry

Key players on Gov. Rick Perry"s team are senior advisors Tony Fabrizio, Fred Maas and Joe Allbaugh, announced Oct. 24, 2011, and campaign manager Rob Johnson, consultant David Carney, political director Wayne Hamilton, communications director Ray Sullivan, policy and strategy director Deirdre Delisi and director of finance Margaret Lauderback.

Jon Huntsman

The campaign which had been headquartered in Orlando, FL, moved its headquarters to New Hampshire from the beginning of October 2011 and focused almost all of its efforts there. Huntsman finished his service as ambassador at the end of April 2011 and formally announced on June 21. A campaign team in waiting had been put together throughout the first part of the year at Horizon PAC (H-PAC), however the organization has since undergone a significant anount of change. John Weaver, veteran of both of Sen. John McCain's presidential campaigns as well as Sen. Phil Gramm's 1995-96 presidential effort, remains as senior advisor. Iniitial campaign manager Susie Wiles resigned effective July 21, and communications director Matt David moved up to campaign manager. In late August media strategist Fred Davis of Strategic Perception, Inc. left to work on the Our Destiny PAC. Whit Ayers is pollster. The campaign skipped Iowa.

Michele Bachmann

Key people on Rep. Michele Bachmann's team are first her husband Marcus Bachmann, whom she met when they were working on the Jimmy Carter campaign. Keith Nahigian took over as campaign manager in early Sept. 2011 after initial campaign manager Ed Rollins stepped aside, as did CEO and deputy campaign manager David Polyansky. In addition to Nahigian, other key people on Bachmann's team are press secretary/spokeswoman Alice Stewart, and senior advisors Brett O'Donnell, Bob Heckman and Becki Donatelli. Jody Thomas and Mary Heitman are the finance directors. The campaign is focusing most of its efforts on Iowa, where Eric Woolson is campaign manager. Pollster Ed Goeas was a prominent figure in the first part of the campaign but left after the NV debate. Several people came over from the congressional office to work on the campaign, but have since returned to the Hill.

Gary Johnson*

(announced Dec. 28, 2011 seeking Libertarian nomination) Former Gov. Gary Johnson's top political advisor is Salt Lake City-based Ron Neilsen, who directed Johnson's 501(c)(4) OUR America Initiative and who ran Johnson's first campaign for governor.

Herman Cain

[suspended campaign Dec. 3, 2011] Mark Block, who had been state director of the Wisconsin chapter of Americans for Prosperity since 2005, is chief of staff. Linda J. Hansen is executive vice president/deputy chief of staff. Jamie Brazil is vice president of national field and political operations. J.D. Gordon assumed a key role as vice president of campaign communications and foreign policy and security advisor starting Sept. 1, 2011. The campaign underwent rapid growth following Cain's win in the Presidency 5 straw poll in Orlando, FL, but allegations of sexual harrassment followed by reports of an affair led Cain to announce suspension of the campaign effort on Dec. 4, 2011.

Thad McCotter

[ended campaign Sept. 22, 2011] Martin Van Valkenburg is senior advisor/Michigan director. He is a senior lobbyist with Capitol Affairs, L.L.C., a Michigan-based, multi-client government relations consulting firm.

Tim Pawlenty

[ended campaign Aug. 14, 2011] Nick Ayers, considered one of the top Republican operatives in the country, has served as Pawlenty's campaign manager effective April 25, 2011 (announced April 11). In the pre-campaign period then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty had top notch operatives Phil Musser, Terry Nelson and Sarah Taylor as senior advisors to his Freedom First PAC starting in Oct. 2009. Musser and Taylor have been most visible in the first months of the campaign. Jon Seaton is political director. The communications team is headed by communications director AnnMarie Hauser and national press secretary Alex Conant. Brian Haley heads the finance team (announced by the exploratory committee on March 28). The Pawlenty campaign was the most aggressive in putting staff on the ground in the key states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

former exploratory candidate:

Roy Moore

Zachery Michael served as senior advisor until his resignation (+) on June 14, 2011. (On July 19 he announced he is supporting Rep. Bachmann).

former possible candidates:

Sarah Palin

Media accounts describe former Gov. Sarah Palin's Sarah PAC as operating with something of an "ad hoc" approach with little emphasis on hierarchy and titles. Among those in the inner circle are, first, husband Todd Palin and then Andrew Davis, Rebecca Mansour, Timothy Crawford and attorney Thomas Van Flein.

Mitch Daniels

(ruled out May 22, 2011) Daniels did almost no activity related to a presidential campaign. Eric Holcomb, elected as chairman of the Indiana Republican Party in January 2011, was a key figure in Daniels' political circle. He previously served as deputy chief of staff in Daniels office and was a key member of Daniels’ 2004 and 2008 campaigns, serving as campaign manager in 2008. He also managed campaigns for former Rep. John N. Hostettler and former Vincennes Mayor Terry Mooney. Holcomb served in the U.S. Navy and is a graduate of Hanover College. Brian McGrath served as executive director of Gov. Mitch Daniels' Aiming Higher PAC. Previously he was Assistant Vice President of Workforce and Economic Development Partnerships for the Department of Workforce and Economic Development at Ivy Community College. Finance director on Daniels' 2008 re-election campaign. Director of Development and Director of Programs and State Relations at the Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation. Finance director for the Indiana Republican Party. B.A. from Indiana University.

Mike Huckabee

(ruled out May 14, 2011) Hogan Gidley is executive director of HUCK PAC (announced Feb. 2010). He served as communications director for Sen. Elizabeth Dole (NC)'s re-election campaign in 2008. Executive director of the South Carolina Republican party in 2006-07. Worked for Richard Quinn and Associates, where he served as campaign adviser and spokesperson to South Carolina Gov. David Beasley. From 2000-04, Gidley worked in a variety of roles for Gov. Mike Huckabee, including director of media operations. Another key Huckabee-ite is Huckabee's daughter, Sarah Huckabee, who most recently served as campaign manager on Rep. John Boozman's successful U.S. Senate campaign in Arkansas. She headed the PAC from its founding in April 2008, after serving as national field director on his presidential campaign.

Haley Barbour

(ruled out April 25, 2011) One of the key people in Gov. Haley Barbour's realm is nephew Henry Barbour, who is the Republican National Committeeman for the state of Mississippi, partner at Capitol Resources LLC, and who managed Barbour's 2003 campaign for governor. Barbour seemed on his way to launching a campaign. In March 2011 veteran communications strategist Jim Dyke of Charleston, SC signed on as communications advisor. Also in March, Barbour brought on as advisors veteran political operatives Mike Dennehy and Paul Young in New Hampshire and Sally Bradshaw in Florida. In the first part of April Matt Gronewald started with Haley's PAC in Iowa. Politico even reported on April 25, when Barbour ruled out a run, that Barbour "had lined up" Rob Collins as likely campaign manager.

George Pataki

(ruled out April 20, 2011) Among those on Pataki's team at Revere America are Christopher Larson, managing director of the Pataki-Cahill Group, David Catalfamo of Capitol Public Strategies in Albany, Kim Minarich, who does scheduling at Revere America, and policy advisor Jim Wooten.

Note:
Other work on campaign organization has been done by the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza ("Inner Circle") and by Politico (for example, the Romney page is at...http://www.politico.com/2012-election/mitt-romney/campaign-insiders/index.html)