New Kerry staff from ALL campaigns

[sandnsea]

Well, the Dean, Edwards and Clark campaigns anyway. I think it looks like a really good bunch of people.

John Kerry has announced a significant expansion of his staff with a series of senior staff appointments across the campaign. Drawn from throughout the Democratic party, these key staff show the depth and breadth of the talent the Kerry team is deploying in its record breaking campaign to take back the White House and rebuild America.

“In this election, we offer voters across the country a new direction, including a revitalized economy with new and better jobs, affordable health care accessible to all and tax cuts for 98 percent of Americans,” Kerry said. “With the help of these outstanding new additions to my campaign, we’re going to win in November 2004 and change America for the better.”


“Today’s announcement represents another step forward in our plan to assemble a campaign team that is second to none,” said Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill. “These individuals come from a variety of backgrounds and from every corner of the Democratic party. Each of them possesses an incredible amount of talent that we will use to tell voters about the new direction John Kerry – and Democrats nationwide – offer a country reeling from the failed leadership of George Bush. I am honored to welcome this outstanding group on board and look forward to fighting alongside them all.”

Veteran Democratic strategist, Janice Griffin will serve as a Senior Advisor to the DNC. She headed Vice President Al Gore’s political action committee, served both as Secretary of Gore/Lieberman 2000 and as Director of African American Outreach. Griffin currently serves on the Board of the CBC Political Action Committee and has been involved with the DNC, serving as chair of the Women’s Leadership Forum and helping to found the DNC’s Women’s Vote Center.

Newly named Senior Advisor to the Kerry Campaign Art Collins currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for all CBC organizations. He served as a member of the DNC’s Democratic Business Council under DNC Chairman Ron Brown. Collins is the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Florida A&M University, the largest public Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in America.

Maura Keefe, a campaign and Capitol Hill veteran, has been hired as a Senior Advisor to the DNC. Keefe, a former advisor to the Dean for America campaign and former Chief of Staff to Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, will be charged with designing and managing the DNC’s surrogate operation.

Peter Kadzik was named a Senior Advisor to the Kerry Campaign, and will oversee the campaign’s scheduling and advance operation. A seasoned veteran of presidential campaigns and Democratic Conventions since 1980, he has been a key advisor to both the DNC and the Clinton White House.

The campaign also announced a number of additions to the political department, beginning with John Norris to serve as National Field Director. Norris was previously the Iowa State Director for the Kerry Campaign. He has worked for Governor Tom Vilsack (D-IA), Representative Leonard Boswell (D-IA) and then-Representative Tom Harkin (D-IA). In 1998, he served as chairman and executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party.

In addition, Karen Hicks will join the team as Deputy National Field Director. Hicks was previously Howard Dean’s New Hampshire State Director and served as Political Director for Jeanne Shaheen’s races for Senate and Governor. She previously served as Shaheen’s health policy advisor.

David Castagnetti joins the campaign as Director of Congressional Affairs from Bergner, Bockorny, Castagnetti & Hawkins, Inc. Castagnetti previously served as Chief of Staff for Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) and then-Congressman Norman Mineta (D-CA), and as Executive Assistant for Congressman Edward Markey (D-MA).

Formerly General Wesley Clark’s Political Director, Lara Bergthold will serve as the Deputy Political Director and Director of Entertainment Community Outreach. Before joining the Clark campaign, Bergthold was the co-chair of the Board of People for the American Way and the former executive director of the Hollywood Women’s Political Committee.

Newly named were also Political Desks Richard Gardner, Nadia Garnett and Fran Lalas. Gardner was a Kerry field organizer in Iowa and Michigan before serving as Kerry’s Connecticut State Director. Garnett was previously the Southern Political Director for Joe Lieberman’s presidential campaign. Lalas moves down from Kerry’s New York office to DC.

Director of Veterans Outreach Tom Keefe and Senior Assistant in Veterans Outreach Angela Kouters join the campaign. Keefe has worked for many years with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Labor and was the Director of Veterans Outreach for Gore/Lieberman 2000. Kouters joins the campaign from the office of Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC) after stints for the Kerry Campaign in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Georgia.

Zach Exley joins the Internet team as Director of Online Communications and Online Organizing. He was previously the director of special projects for the MoveOn.org and was instrumental in building the Dean campaign’s web-based organization.

Joining the speechwriting department is Wendy Button who worked as Edwards’ speechwriter on his presidential campaign. She previously worked for Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), and Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston.

Kerry’s policy department has welcomed ten new staffers. Formerly the Chief of Staff for John Edwards’ Campaign, Miles Lackey will serve as Deputy Campaign Manager for Policy and Speechwriting. Lackey previously served as Chief of Staff in Edwards’ Senate office and worked in the Clinton White House as special assistant to the president for national security affairs.

Brian Burke, who headed up New Mexico for Clark, will manage policy outreach. He has served in various capacities in federal government, including counselor to Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson and senior policy analyst at the White House under the Clinton Administration.

Former Policy Director for Edwards Robert Gordon will manage domestic policy. Gordon worked as Edwards’ Legislative Director in the Senate, clerked at the Supreme Court, and was a staffer for the National Economic Council and the Office of National Service in the Clinton White House.

Jason Furman will manage economic policy. Formerly Clark’s Policy Director, Furman was an economic advisor to the Gore campaign in 2000. He served as a staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisers, Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy in the Clinton Administration, and also as Senior Economic Adviser to the Chief Economist of the World Bank.

Marco Trbovich, who serves as Assistant to the President for the United Steelworkers of America, will manage labor policy.

Sarah von der Lippe will manage justice policy. She has been a civil rights lawyer in private practice for the past eight years, specializing in defending Affirmative Action rights. Previously, she worked for Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) as Legislative Assistant for the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Heather Zichal is moving over from the Kerry Senate office to manage environment and energy policy.

Madhu Chugh has joined the campaign to manage heath care policy. She was the Deputy Communications Director on now-Governor Tom Vilsack’s (D-IA) successful gubernatorial campaign, served as Policy Director on Governor Jeanne Shaheen’s 2002 Senate campaign and worked as a Health Policy Fellow for Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA).

Jon Steinberg moves to the Kerry Campaign as Policy Analyst from his position with the Clark Campaign as Deputy Research Director.

Kerry’s communications team also got a boost from a few new faces as Phil Singer, Sarah Gegenheimer, Anthony Coley, and Jeremy Van Ess joined the group.

New Spokesperson Phil Singer joins the Kerry team after four years as Communications Director for Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY). Singer went to Schumer’s office after working for Congressman Steve Rothman (D-NJ) and, before that, Senator Robert Torricelli (D-NJ).

Sarah Gegenheimer, Deputy Communications Director, joins the Kerry campaign after a stint with the Howard Dean campaign. She was previously Director at the Glover Park Group and served in the Clinton White House as Deputy Press Secretary.

Anthony Coley becomes the Southern Communications Director for the campaign. He most recently worked as Communications Director for U.S. Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) and before him for Representative Harold Ford (D-TN).

Deputy Press Secretary Jeremy Van Ess was formerly the Deputy Press Secretary for Edwards. Before that he was Deputy Press Secretary for now-Governor Edward G. Rendell’s (D-PA) campaign and a Communications Associate with the Dewey Square Group.

http://blog.johnkerry.com/

[JI7]

1. the Gephardt people came in after Iowa

just wanted to make a note that he has gephardt people also, but they aren't really "new" as they came in after iowa.

[jburton]

2. good mix geographically, too

nt

[Edgewater_Joe]

3. Then DO SOME WORK Already!

No f'n way Bush should have INCREASED his lead in the polls with all the bad news he got. Kerry needs to back up his claim on the airwaves to 'take the fight to Bush every day'.

If he's going to go down, REALLY go down swinging.

[sandnsea]

4. He's an underdog candidate

He always has been. It drove me nuts in the primaries too, but that's just the way he does it. We'll probably hum along at a relatively even pace unti September or so, then go like hell until November 2. Because that's when the majority of people are really paying attention and that's when you've really got to work to keep them on your side every single day, get out the vote, keep them active, all that stuff. In the days right before the election. You really don't want to peak too soon, I heard that somewhere before.

[fujiyama]

5. While it's true

you don't want to peak too soon (hell look at Dukakis), I think waiting until September may be a bad idea. First of all the GOP will have their convention then, so it's important to keep up the excitement all the way from the Dem. convention on.

Also, I'm not sure the primaries are a good indicator of much, considering there were many events that brought down Dean. Plus, in the end Kerry decided to just put more time into Iowa, rather than spending all that time in NH.

Either way, I hope you're right that if he uses his "late closer" strategy, it pays off. He's won close races before, and he surprised many after being written off many months before.

[JI7]

6. he isn't really waiting, he is doing a lot now

but it's not good to spend too much on tv ads now and risk not having enough money for them as we get closer to the elections.he doesn'thave as much money as bush does now. rightnow he is working on policy, he is going around campaigning in various states. he did a great job on meet the press. he has to prepare for those type of things. also, bush is already being criticized by non partisan types out there which is the best type of attack as it's not as effective to blow it off as a partisan attack by a political opponent. kerry doesn't always need to get into it and take the attention away from bush. it IS better sometimes to say nothing or to wait. but it doesn't mean kerry isn't doing anything right now.