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David Plouffe

David Plouffe

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David Plouffe
David Plouffe official portrait.jpg
Senior Advisor to the President
In office
January 10, 2011 – January 25, 2013
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byDavid Axelrod
Succeeded byDaniel Pfeiffer
Personal details
Born(1967-05-27) May 27, 1967 (age 48)
Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic Party
Alma materUniversity of Delaware
David Plouffe (/ˈplʌf/; born May 27,[citation needed] 1967)[1][2] is an American political strategist best known as the campaign manager for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. A long-time Democratic Party campaign consultant, he was a partner at the party-aligned campaign consulting firm AKPD Message and Media, which he joined in 2000.[3] Plouffe was an outside senior advisor to Obama since the president's first day in office and was then appointed as a Senior Advisor to the President (inside the White House) in 2011 following the resignation of David Axelrod, who went on to start Obama's reelection campaign.[4] In September 2014, he became the Senior Vice President of Policy and Strategy for transportation network company startup Uber.[5] In May 2015, he left that role to become a full-time strategic adviser for the company.[6]


Early life[edit]

Plouffe was born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware,[7] in a Jewish family,[8][9][10] the son of Frances (née Vincent), a stay-at-home mother, and James Everett "Jim" Plouffe, a factory worker who later had a job in marketing.[11][12] He was raised in a working-class family.[13] Plouffe attended St. Mark's High School. He left the University of Delaware prior to graduating in 1989 to pursue a full-time career in politics, and completed his full undergraduate degree in May 2010.[14]

Career[edit]

Plouffe began his political career by working for Senator Tom Harkin's 1990 re-election campaign.[15] He later worked as a state field director for Harkin's unsuccessful 1992 Presidential campaign. In the same year he successfully managed Congressman John Olver's first re-election bid in Massachusetts. In 1994 Plouffe managed Delaware Attorney General Charles M. Oberly's unsuccessful campaign against Senator William V. Roth. He then worked as campaign director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 1995. In 1996 Plouffe managed Bob Torricelli's successful campaign to fill Bill Bradley's New Jersey seat in the United States Senate.[citation needed]
From 1997-98, Plouffe served as Democratic leader Dick Gephardt's Deputy Chief of Staff. In 1999–2000, as executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Plouffe led Democrats to gains that came within several thousand votes of winning back the House. He also led the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to unusually high fundraising amounts, during his tenure at the DCCC. In the winter of 2000, Plouffe joined AKPD Message and Media but left briefly to serve as a strategist for Gephardt's unsuccessful Presidential bid. He returned to the firm and became a partner in February 2004. Beginning in 2003, Plouffe and fellow AKPD partner David Axelrod worked on Barack Obama's 2004 Illinois Senate campaign, beginning his association with Obama. Plouffe worked with Axelrod on the successful 2006 campaign of Deval Patrick for Governor of Massachusetts.[citation needed]

2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign[edit]

Plouffe was the campaign manager for Obama's successful 2008 presidential campaign. He is credited with the campaign's successful overall strategy in the race (primarily against Senator Hillary Clinton) for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, to focus on the first caucus in Iowa and on maximizing the number of pledged delegates, as opposed to focusing on states with primaries and the overall popular vote. He is also credited by The New Republic for Obama's success in the Iowa caucus and for crafting an overall strategy to prolong the primary past Super Tuesday. The Chicago Tribune writes, "Plouffe was the mastermind behind a winning strategy that looked well past Super Tuesday's contests on Feb. 5 and placed value on large and small states".[16] Plouffe also maintained discipline over communications, including controlling leaks and releasing information about the campaign on its terms. Averse to publicity himself, Plouffe's control over the internal workings of the campaign avoided the publicly aired squabbles that tend to trouble campaigns.[16]
In June 2008, when then-Senator Obama clinched the Democratic Party nomination, he thanked Plouffe for being the one "who never gets any credit, but has built the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States". In May 2008, David Axelrod praised Plouffe, stating he had "done the most magnificent job of managing a campaign that I've seen in my life of watching presidential politics. To start something like this from scratch and build what we have built was a truly remarkable thing".[17] After winning the election on November 4, Obama credited Plouffe in his acceptance speech, calling him "the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the...best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America".[18]

2009–2011[edit]

Plouffe went to work as an outside senior adviser to the Obama administration, in January 2009. His book The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory, discussing management strategies and tactics that he used in the 2008 campaign,[19] was published on November 3, 2009, and became a New York Times bestseller. He later issued a video challenge for Obama supporters to buy a copy of his book on December 8, 2009, in order to "Beat Sarah Palin" and her bestselling book for one day.[20][21] He signed with the Washington Speakers Bureau to give paid speeches and plans to engage in non-government consulting work.[22]
In May 2009, Plouffe delivered the convocation address at Cornell University.[23] He spoke about the balance between family time and professional time, and how he had yet to learn exactly how to accomplish an appropriate balance, but hoped to devote more time to his family than he was physically able to during 2007 and 2008.

2011–2013 Senior Advisor to the President[edit]

In January 2011, Plouffe joined the White House as Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor. Plouffe replaced David Axelrod as Senior Advisor when Axelrod returned to Chicago to help run President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.[24]
In his role as Senior Advisor, Plouffe led the crafting of White House strategy and communicating the President’s message. He attended the President on his domestic and overseas visits, including the May 2011 state visit to the UK.[25]
After a successful reelection and inauguration of President Obama, Plouffe departed the White House in January 2013. During a national news event, on his final day in the White House, Plouffe was singled out by the President saying, “What people don’t always realize, because he doesn’t like to show it, is the reason he does this stuff is because he cares deeply about people. And he cares about justice, and he cares about making sure that everybody gets a shot in life. And, those values have motivated him to do incredible things, and were it not for him, we would not have been as effective a White House and I probably wouldn’t be here.”[26]

Career after the White House[edit]

After leaving the White House in early 2013, Plouffe became a contributor for Bloomberg TV and ABC News.[27]
In April 2013, Plouffe was inducted into the American Association of Political Consultants Hall of Fame.[28]
In the summer of 2014, rumors circulated that Plouffe might return to the White House as Chief of Staff. On August 5, 2014, Plouffe denied he planned to return at a Politico Playbook lunch, and White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said he did not expect Chief of Staff Denis McDonough to depart.[29]
On August 19, 2014, Plouffe was appointed as Senior Vice President of Policy and Strategy at Uber, the ride-sharing company. [30]

Controversy[edit]

Plouffe has drawn criticism for his paid speaking engagements abroad while on hiatus from advising Obama. In early 2009, Plouffe spoke in Baku, Azerbaijan, for $50,000. The event's sponsor had ties to Azerbaijan's authoritarian government. Following complaints from human rights groups, Plouffe donated his speaking fees to the National Democratic Institute.[31][32]
In December 2010, Plouffe received $100,000 for two speeches in Nigeria from an affiliate of the South African telecommunications company MTN Group. At the time, MTN had been doing business with the government of Iran since 2005. Recently, MTN has come under increased scrutiny by the United States for allegations that the Iranian government used the MTN network to track and monitor dissidents. MTN has been listed on the "Iran Business Registry" of watchdog group United Against Nuclear Iran since 2009.[33]
White House spokesman Eric Schultz explained that Plouffe only spoke to the group about digital communications and cellular technology, and declined to meet with the company's leadership. Schultz also said the criticism of Plouffe's speeches before he joined the White House was "misplaced".[34]
In 2013, in response to Congressman Darrell Issa's accusations that the Obama administration knew about the IRS targeting of not-for-profit conservative groups for extra scrutiny, Plouffe tweeted: "Strong words from Mr Grand Theft Auto and suspected arsonist/insurance swindler. And loose ethically today", referring to two incidents in Issa's past. In 1972, while a teenager, Issa was accused of stealing a Maserati sports car; the charges were later dropped. In 1982, a Cleveland warehouse belonging to Issa burned to the ground. The fire was ruled suspicious and Issa collected an insurance payout, but he was not charged with any crime.[35][36][37][38][39][40]

Works[edit]

  • Plouffe, David. The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory, Viking Adult (November 3, 2009); ISBN 978-0-670-02133-8

Personal life[edit]

Plouffe is married to Olivia Morgan, a Senior Advisor to Maria Shriver’s A Woman’s Nation, a member of Obama’s President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities,[41][42] and Director of Federal Relations to Gray Davis when he was governor of California.[43] The couple resides in Washington, D.C., and have a daughter, who was born two days after the 2008 presidential election, and a son.[44]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Jump up ^ "Obama's Inner Circle", James A. Barnes, National Journal, 3/31/08
  2. Jump up ^ "Obama's Aide Plouffe", Julianna Goldman, Bloomberg, 6/16/08
  3. Jump up ^ "AKPD MESSAGE AND MEDIA|PARTNERS|DAVID PLOUFFE". www.akpdmedia.com. Retrieved 2008-04-28. 
  4. Jump up ^ "Obama Gets Second Chance to Stress Jobs Focus at State of the Union". Fox News. 2011-01-21. 
  5. Jump up ^ "A LEADER FOR THE UBER CAMPAIGN", 8/196/14
  6. Jump up ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/05/13/uber-just-gave-david-plouffes-job-to-a-top-google-exec/
  7. Jump up ^ http://www.wilmu.edu/news/newsArticle.aspx?newsID=438
  8. Jump up ^ Financial Post: "Lawrence Solomon: The lost tribe of Obama" by Lawrence Solomon July 13, 2013
  9. Jump up ^ Jewish Journal: "'Gravity’ and the Pew study" By Rob Eshman October 9, 2013
  10. Jump up ^ Jewish Virtual Library: "David Plouffe" retrieved October 28, 2013
  11. Jump up ^ Leibovich, Mark (February 20, 2012). "Plouffe, Obama Aide, Lends Firm Hand to Campaign". The New York Times. 
  12. Jump up ^ http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/delawareonline/obituary.aspx?pid=156870306
  13. Jump up ^ "David Plouffe". The Washington Post. January 25, 2013. 
  14. Jump up ^ "Former McCain, Obama Aides Schmidt and Plouffe Join at University of Delaware". US News & World Report. October 19, 2009. 
  15. Jump up ^ Obama's Aide Plouffe Plots Victory From Background, by Julianna Goldman, Bloomberg.com, June 16, 2008. (url accessed July 4, 2008).
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b McCormick, John (2008-06-08). "Obama's campaign chief: low profile, high impact". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2008-06-09. 
  17. Jump up ^ Kaiser, Robert G. (2008-05-02). "The Player at Bat - David Axelrod, the Man With Obama's Game Plan, Is Also the Candidate's No. 1 Fan". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-05-06. 
  18. Jump up ^ "Text of Obama's Acceptance Speech". The Baltimore Sun. 2008-11-05. Retrieved 2008-11-10. [dead link]
  19. Jump up ^ Italie, Hillel (4 February 2009). "Obama campaign manager David Plouffe agrees to 7-figure deal for book". Associated Press. 
  20. Jump up ^ David Plouffe Throwback Strategy Challenge
  21. Jump up ^ Penguin Books (2009). The Audacity to Win; retrieved October 29, 2009.
  22. Jump up ^ Allen, Mike (2008-12-05). "Publishers jump at Plouffe book". The Politico. Retrieved 2008-05-06. 
  23. Jump up ^ Obama's Campaign Manager Set to Speak at Convocation The Cornell Daily Sun
  24. Jump up ^ Stone, Daniel (1/7/2011). "David Plouffe, Obama's Whiz Kid, Returns". The Daily Beast/Newsweek. Retrieved 10 May 2013.  Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. Jump up ^ "US State Visit, 24 to 26 May 2011 Guest List". Royal Family official website. 
  26. Jump up ^ White House, The. "Remarks by the President at a Personnel Announcement". Retrieved 10 May 2013. 
  27. Jump up ^ Cowie, Amanda (April 25, 2013). "David Plouffe Joins Bloomberg TV". Bloomberg News. Retrieved May 10, 2013. 
  28. Jump up ^ Gavin, Patrick (April 4, 2013). "David Axelrod, David Plouffe to Hall of Fame". Politico. Retrieved May 10, 2013. 
  29. Jump up ^ Budoff Brown, Carrie. "David Plouffe: The most popular guy in Washington". www.politico.com. Politico. Retrieved 6 August 2014. 
  30. Jump up ^ "A LEADER FOR THE UBER CAMPAIGN". www.uber.com. Retrieved 19 August 2014. 
  31. Jump up ^ Mark Leibovich (21 February 2012). "From Knife Seller to the President’s Hard Edge". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved 6 August 2012. 
  32. Jump up ^ Kenneth Vogel (12 February 2012). "Plouffe speech in Azerbaijan draws fire". Politico. Retrieved 6 August 2012. 
  33. Jump up ^ Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten (5 August 2012). "Obama associate got $100,000 fee from affiliate of firm doing business with Iran". The Washington Post. Retrieved 6 August 2012. 
  34. Jump up ^ Baker, Peter (8/7/2012). "Aide’s Fees Draw Critics and, Then, Defenders". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 May 2013.  Check date values in: |date= (help)
  35. Jump up ^ Washington Post: "Plouffe calls Issa ‘Mr. Grand Theft Auto’" By Aaron Blake June 3, 2013
  36. Jump up ^ Baltimore Jewish Life: "Plouffe, White House Aides Target Issa" by Bill Hoffmann June 3, 2013
  37. Jump up ^ USA Today: "Rep. Issa, Obama aide have war of words" David Jackson June 3, 2013
  38. Jump up ^ CNN: "IRS controversy turns personal, nasty" by Jake Tapper June 2, 2013
  39. Jump up ^ NPR: "White House-Issa Fight: Nasty But Normal In Washington" by Frank James June 03, 2013
  40. Jump up ^ Politico: "David Plouffe rips Darrell Issa ‘loose ethically’" By TAL KOPAN June 3, 2013
  41. Jump up ^ "The Shriver Report". awomansnation.com. Retrieved 2010-05-06. [dead link]
  42. Jump up ^ "Olivia Morgan, Washington, DC". President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. [dead link]
  43. Jump up ^ "Olivia Morgan". The Huffington Post. Retrieved June 27, 2012. 
  44. Jump up ^ Cillizza, Chris (2008-11-07). "Plouffe to the Senate?". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-11-07. 

External links[edit]

Political offices
Preceded by
David Axelrod		Senior Advisor to the President
2011–2013
Served alongside: Valerie Jarrett		Succeeded by
Daniel Pfeiffer
Preceded by
Pete Rouse
Authority control
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=David_Plouffe&oldid=675552528"
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