David Plouffe : The man with the plan
05 November 2008 à 12h36
| Aucun commentaire
Slim, medium-sized, dark haired, in his early forties, David Plouffe’s anonymous look fits the man’s style. Publicity-shy, Plouffe would "rather have a pen stabbed in his eye than pose for a photo," says an Obama staffer. A mysterious campaign manager who gave Obama his victory.
This largely unknown political operative is smart, competitive, frugal and confident. In 1996 already, he demonstrated a talent for devising a campaign strategy, helping Democrats win some Senate seats. Today, he stands at the center of one of the best-funded, best-organized Democratic presidential campaigns ever. The man, who met Obama through chief strategist David Axelrod, his political partner in Chicago, is actually a mastermind, a shadow worker with a great sense of what is tactically astute.
Twice during the campaign, David Plouffe took the opposite camp from the rear. First at the primaries, while the Clinton camp chose to fight in the wealthiest states in terms of delegates, he decided to plow resources into smaller states that chose delegates after the mass of contests. More recently, he succeeded in forcing McCain to fight for positions that had seemed already won over to the Republican candidate: by doing this, he widened his prospecting field in his quest of the necessary 270 great electors and led McCain to spend much more money than expected.
Money. A campaign’s lifeblood… and the other battlefield in which Mr. Plouffe showed the extent of his talents. Like a meticulous ant, he implemented a war machine based on a systematic recruitment of sympathizers among mere t-shirt, pin or hat buyers, a call for thousand of little donations on the Internet or non-stop volunteer shifts for door-to-door operations or phone canvassing.
A groundwork without which Obama may never have collected the 259 million dollars that came from small donors. The same people who helped him to distance John McCain. The same people who gave him victory. Barack Obama will know to whom he owes his supreme presidency.
To a smart, discreet man, who probably celebrated, as usual, the victory in the shadows.
Olivier Saretta et Roxane Guichard
This largely unknown political operative is smart, competitive, frugal and confident. In 1996 already, he demonstrated a talent for devising a campaign strategy, helping Democrats win some Senate seats. Today, he stands at the center of one of the best-funded, best-organized Democratic presidential campaigns ever. The man, who met Obama through chief strategist David Axelrod, his political partner in Chicago, is actually a mastermind, a shadow worker with a great sense of what is tactically astute.
Twice during the campaign, David Plouffe took the opposite camp from the rear. First at the primaries, while the Clinton camp chose to fight in the wealthiest states in terms of delegates, he decided to plow resources into smaller states that chose delegates after the mass of contests. More recently, he succeeded in forcing McCain to fight for positions that had seemed already won over to the Republican candidate: by doing this, he widened his prospecting field in his quest of the necessary 270 great electors and led McCain to spend much more money than expected.
Money. A campaign’s lifeblood… and the other battlefield in which Mr. Plouffe showed the extent of his talents. Like a meticulous ant, he implemented a war machine based on a systematic recruitment of sympathizers among mere t-shirt, pin or hat buyers, a call for thousand of little donations on the Internet or non-stop volunteer shifts for door-to-door operations or phone canvassing.
A groundwork without which Obama may never have collected the 259 million dollars that came from small donors. The same people who helped him to distance John McCain. The same people who gave him victory. Barack Obama will know to whom he owes his supreme presidency.
To a smart, discreet man, who probably celebrated, as usual, the victory in the shadows.
Olivier Saretta et Roxane Guichard
