Talent and Organization - New Hampshire

By Primary Day, Jan. 10, 2012 the Gingrich, Huntsman, Paul, Romney and Santorum campaigns remained active in the Granite State and longshots Roemer and Karger were very active as well; the Perry campaign was largely quiescent but remained visible; Johnson had essentially disappeared from the field; several other GOP candidates had built organizations but withdrawn; and the Obama re-election campaign was also hard at work.


updated January 11, 2012

NATIONAL  |  IOWA  |  NEW HAMPSHIRE  |  SOUTH CAROLINA  |  FLORIDA  |  NEVADA 

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


Barack Obama +

Pete Kavanaugh is the campaign's lead person in New Hampshire.  A principal at Hilltop Public Solutions.  Advisor on the Jody Wagner for Lt. Governor campaign in Virginia, 2009, and on the Terry McAuliffe for Governor campaign in Virginia, 2009.  Field director on the Virginia Democratic Coordinated Campaign, 2008.  New Hampshire deputy field director on John Edwards for President, 2007-08.  Deputy director of the Missouri Democratic Coordinated Campaign, 2006.  Field director on the Scott Lang for Mayor campaign in New Bedford, MA, 2005.  Political director at IssuesMatter.org, 2004.  Political director on Jim Stork for Congress in FL-22, 2004.  New Hampshire political assistant on the John Edwards for President campaign, 2003-04.


Newt Gingrich +

The campaign had no staff until Oct. 2011 when Andrew Hemingway signed on as state coordinator (reported by the John DiStaso on Oct. 19, 2011)  Hemingway is taking leave from position as chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of NH.  He is founder and managing director of Digital Acumen ("Working at the convergence of social media and politics.")


Jon Huntsman +

At the end of Sept. 2011 the campaign moved its national headquarters from Florida to New Hampshire, putting the national staff in state.  Sarah Crawford Stewart, formerly of the Pawlenty campaign, started running Huntsman's New Hampshire campaign day to day in late August after Huntsman fired his initial state director Ethan Elion.  Peter Spaulding is campaign chairman.  Paul Collins and Brad Blais are consultants for the campaign. 


Fred Karger +

Karger is leasing a home in Manchester.  Kevin Miniter started in New Hampshire at the beginning of July 2011.  Karger has a couple of people part-time: Tyler Ford, a senior, is his Dartmouth campus coordinator and Lee Hunter of Portsmouth is his UNH campus coordinator.


Ron Paul +

Jared Chicoine is Paul's NH director; he served as state coordinator on Paul's 2008 NH primary campaign (announced April 17, 2007).  Chicoine is a principal at Whitefield & Burke, LLC (the firm founded by Chris Wood), and has a decade of experience in New Hampshire politics.  In 2010 he helped on Jeanie Forrester's campaign for state Senate, and he has served on campaigns for U.S. Senator Bob Smith, State Senator Bob O'Dell and national Republican Committeeman Sean Mahoney.  From 2003-05, he was a political and policy consultant for New England Citizens for Right to Work.


Rick Perry +

Veteran consultant David Carney of Norway Hill Associates in Hancock, who has served as the general consultant to Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)'s campaigns in 2010, 2006, 2002 and 1998, is a key consultant on Perry's presidential bid.  Kerry Marsh, immediate past chair of New Hampshire Young Republicans, is campaign manager.  Marsh has worked on political and corporate communications at Spectrum Marketing Companies since Feb. 2006.  Although the Perry campaign office remained open through the primary, it had largely gone quiescent.

Buddy Roemer +

Roemer has taken up residence in Manchester and the campaign, headed by Carlos Sierra, is based in New Hampshire.  Roemer officially opened the national headquarters in Manchester on October 4.  On Oct. 25, 2011 the campaign announced Chris Buck, Dover attorney and former state director for Thad McCotter, as its state director.


Mitt Romney +

Jason McBride is state director (first reported on March 23, 2011 by Granite Status John DiStaso; he served as deputy political director at the RNC and in 2007-08 was state director on Romney's Michigan primary campaign.  Jim Merrill and Tom Rath are senior advisors.  The campaign has lined up more endorsements than any other campaign.


Rick Santorum +

Santorum's PAC signed up Mike Biundo as state director (announced Jan. 5, 2011) and he has since been promoted to national political director and now national campaign manager.  Biundo played key roles in Frank Guinta's successful campaigns for Congress in 2010 and for Mayor of Manchester in 2005 and 2007 and was deputy campaign manager on Pat Buchanan's NH primary campaign in 1995-96. 


also

Gary Johnson +

Brinck Slattery of Manchester served as state director to the end of Oct. 2011; he started as New Hampshire advance coordinator for OUR America Initiative in Nov. 2010.  He had most recently worked as an independent political consultant, and served as a NH field coordinator on Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign.  After Slattery left, Eric Johnson led efforts in the state, but on Dec. 28, 2011 former Gov. Johnson announced he was seeking the Libertarian nomination and by primary day, the campaign had closed its office).


former candidates:

Michelle Bachmann +

The staff quit en masse in October (reported Oct. 21, 2011).  Jeff Chidester, who has a radio show (+) on Sunday mornings at 11:00 am on 96.7 The Wave and WGIR AM 610, had been serving as senior advisor/campaign manager.

Herman Cain +

The campaign held the grand opening of its office in Manchester on Aug. 19, 2011.  Charlie Spano is key staff.  [Matt Murphy resigned as New Hampshire operations director on June 24, 2011, as first reported by John DiStaso; Murphy believed the campaign was not making a sufficient effort in the state].

Thaddeus McCotter +

Chris Buck started as campaign director in charge of day-to-day on July 12, 2011 (announced July 13).  Buck is chair of the Dover Republican Committee, and announced June 30, 2011 he is running for Mayor.  He is a Dover attorney focusing on family and business law and an entrepreneur (president of Legal News Services, LLC, and founder of Docketz.com and VoteCrier.com).  Candidate for State House in 2010.  Senior marketing analyst for Compressor Energy Solutions.  J.D. from Franklin Pierce Law Center in 2008, and B.A. in philosophy from Northeastern University in 2003.

Tim Pawlenty +

Sarah (Crawford) Stewart is state director of Pawlenty's exploratory effort.  Crawford was announced as senior advisor to Pawlenty's Freedom First PAC in June 2010.  She is taking leave from b-fresh consulting, which she founded in 2008.  She was deputy campaign manager on John McCain's 2008 NH primary campaign and a field organizer on his 2000 NH primary campaign.  As of April 29 there were a total of four New Hampshire staff including Stewart.  Rich Killion, managing principal of Elevare Communications, is senior advisor.  The steering committee is growing and includes such figures as John Lyons, Cliff Hurst, Bill Cahill and others.  The campaign was first to open an office in the state.


former possible candidate:

Haley Barbour +

Mike Dennehy, who played senior roles in both of Sen. John McCain's presidential campaigns, is a senior advisor (reported March 16, 2011).  He is founder and president of The Dennehy Group, and co-founder and principal of the Dennehy and Bouley government relations firm, both based in Concord.  Granite Status John DiStaso reported on March 11, 2011 that veteran communications strategist Paul Young is helping out Barbour in New Hampshire.  Young, who is president of Novus Public Affairs in Portsmouth, has experience as a senior national campaign advisor to the presidential campaigns of Jack Kemp, Bob Dole and Steve Forbes.


See also:
Shawn Millerick. "Meet 'The New Hampshire 50.'" NH Journal, Dec. 19, 2010.

Steve Peoples.  "N.H. Craves 2012 Action as Campaigns Bloom Late." Roll Call, Jan. 30, 2011.