Working World

Not many of us get kudos from our boss like David Plouffe got from his. Then again, not many of us oversee a campaign for the president of the United States. During his acceptance speech on Nov. 4, President-elect Barack Obama mentioned David Plouffe by name and said he had built the “best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States.”
    
He was merely echoing what everyone, including the opposition, had been saying. The New York Times said the campaign was “almost flawless,” and even John McCain’s strategist called it “perfectly run.” In his position as campaign manager, Plouffe oversaw field operations, staff, media, advertising and fundraising, helping to catapult, in two years, a relatively obscure junior senator to President-elect of the United States.

Plouffe is a partner in the Washington, D.C., consulting firm AKP&D Message and Media, along with David Axelrod, Obama’s chief political strategist and good friend. Axelrod brought Plouffe into the presidential campaign; the two had worked together in 2003 on Obama’s 2004 Illinois Senate race. Prior to joining Axelrod’s firm in 2000, Plouffe had worked on two successful congressional campaigns. He also held directorships on the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and was Richard Gephardt’s Deputy Chief of Staff in 1997–1998.

In the primary races against Hillary Clinton, Plouffe  concentrated on the Iowa caucus and small states that choose delegates after Super Tuesday in February in order to maximize the number of pledged delegates. He believed he had to slow down Senator Clinton’s momentum early by winning Iowa. The win in Iowa also helped establish Obama as a candidate whose appeal could cross racial lines.

In the general election, the campaign’s strategy was to go completely against conventional wisdom, which said Democrats could not win in the Southern and Western states that had been traditionally Republican for decades and should therefore concentrate their efforts on the big “battleground” states such as Ohio and Florida.

Instead, Plouffe chose to expand the votership in those Republican “red” states. He mobilized a massive ground field operation that identified unregistered voters, went door-to-door in an unprecedented get-out-the-vote campaign, and increased voter turnout, particularly among blacks and young voters, considered most inclined to respond to Obama’s message of change.

Plouffe’s campaign also tapped into grassroots enthusiasm and new technology to get financial support, using the Internet, social networking sites and online organizing to collect voter information and millions in small donations. Although Obama reneged on his earlier pledge to accept public financing and therefore limit his spending, many considered the political risk to be worth it for the firepower it gave him to run ads relentlessly in all 50 states.         

Plouffe studied political science at the University of Delaware. He is known for keeping a very low profile and avoiding the limelight, and is described as “a no-drama guy” and “unflappable.” Election week was a busy one for Plouffe. He and wife Olivia Morgan, a principal at the Dewey Square Group public affairs firm, had a baby girl Nov. 6, their second child. Olivia formerly worked as an advisor to California Gov. Gray Davis. At Dewey Square, she designs government relations and communications strategies, with an emphasis on nonprofit clients. The Plouffes live in Washington, D.C.

While David Axelrod has been offered a position in the Obama administration, at the time of this writing, Plouffe has said he is not interested in a spot within the White House.    

Suzanne Ridgway is a freelance writer and regular columnist for Working World and Working Nurse magazines. She also writes grant proposals for nonprofit organizations.