March 4, 2008
Inside Obama’s Machine
New York Post
“When he entered the presidential race, Obama faced the daunting task of quickly assembling a team to compete with campaigns that had been up and running for months, if not years. But, as a former community organizer in Chicago, Obama knew a little about how to do this. He’s created a team that has been disciplined, focused and devoid of the infighting that has characterized the Clinton apparatus. Even when his campaign seemed to be faltering last fall, there were no major staff shakeups, no leaks and none of the finger-pointing endemic among political operatives. Obama relied in part on his Chicago roots by bringing on David Axelrod as his chief strategist and David Plouffe as his campaign manager. Axelrod, veteran of John Edwards’ 2004 presidential bid and the successful gubernatorial races of Deval Patrick and Eliot Spitzer, had worked on Obama’s Senate race as well. Plouffe, a partner with Axelrod in the Chicago-based AKP&D Message and Media, had served as executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and as Rep. Richard Gephardt’s deputy chief of staff.” [more...]
December 21, 2007
Obama Runs Tight Campaign Ship
Politico
“And when the campaign hired an aide to improve its rapid response operation, it was another Axelrod partner, John Del Cecato. Now, Obama is in a position to mount a serious challenge to Clinton.” [more...]
August 26, 2007
Obama Campaign In Gear for Iowa
Telegraph Herald
“To say David Plouffe is an experienced political strategist is an understatement. But even with his experience, Plouffe, a partner in one of the nation’s foremost Democratic media consulting firms and the national campaign manager for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, said one thing about the 2008 presidential campaign stands out. ‘I was surprised at the intensity of this election from the get-go,’ he said.” [more...]
February 17, 2007
Obama’s Media Maven
The Nation
“Even though he lives 1,000 miles from the notoriously clubby world of political consulting, Axelrod has become one of its most successful and respected practitioners. Mark McKinnon, who produced George W. Bush’s ads in the last cycle and now works for John McCain, calls Axelrod ‘the best media guy out there who doesn’t have a ring.’” [more...]
February 15, 2007
Barack Obama’s On-Point Message Man
Washington Post
“Nineteen months to the presidential election, and already the campaign has an A-Rod!
He is David Axelrod, a former newspaper reporter who has worked on past campaigns for no fewer than five of the Democrats racing to the White House, a form of political ubiquity that only enhances his reputation. This time, he’s with Obama.
A measure of his status in the top tier of Democratic spinners, scripters and fixers is that when his peers detect something subtle and good, they presume Axelrod must have had a hand in it.” [more...]
January 14, 2007
Inside Obama’s Inner Circle
Chicago Tribune
“The political professionals who are Obama’s closest formal advisers are careful, deliberate counselors, wary of unnecessary risks and no strangers to campaign street fights. The informal coterie is a multi-hued collection of high achievers, men and women who are friends and intellectual peers. There’s David Axelrod, the strategist at Obama’s right hand, perhaps the best-known Democratic consultant working outside of Washington, D.C., equally adept at sensing the right metaphor for high-minded aspirations and at finding the vulnerable spot to savage an opponent.” [more...]
