These results are automatically generated from Google. It was a long shot. Communications Director at Strickland for Governor from January 2010 to November 2010 (11 months) in Columbus, Ohio Area. I had to deal with candidates who, unfortunately, did not give me all the facts, and you cant effectively handle a crisis. Schmuhl, his campaign manager, says a typical scene from the trail for the three of them is arriving 10 or 15 minutes early to the airport gate, and while he and Buttegiegwho hes known since 8th grade in Indianatake a moment to relax for a minute before boarding, Smith will head to the airport bar with her laptop and phone and begins texting and emailing reporters and clapping back to critics on social media. Your knowledge of the process? Smith: Im not going to touch that with a 10-foot pole. That is not the typical relationship of adviser to political principal, but typical is not a word people use about Smith. You couldnt have pulled off that strategy with a Bill de Blasio. Click here. I am humbled and flattered and appreciative of when people recognize the hard work I put in on our media strategy, and the fact that we employed a media strategy that was radically different from everyone else in the field. In the past several months, Buttigieg has been not just all over cable and in the newspapers, but in Our Daily Planet, an environmental morning newsletter with just over 5,000 Twitter followers; in a financial planning podcast called Pete the Planner; and on West Wing Weekly, the obsessive episode-by-episode podcast breakdown of The West Wing. Axelrod told Buttigieg about Smith, and OMalley told Smith about this young mayor from South Bend. Wren: This book is in some ways a tell-all about the role of a political consultant. This is how we stop there from being a day three. Smith: I think its been great. Were just not looking for them. We needed to be the antidote to him. Deciding to get into politics for me, and in the world of political operatives, was like jumping off a cliff. It will hopefully make the cost of prescription drugs go down, or cut the price of insulin. Its about getting to know people and them getting to know you, Buttigieg says when I see him after the Brooklyn fundraiser, where he at least pretends to recall our earlier meeting and what we talked about. Smith: Im not going to say who. I had gone through this awful breakup [with former New York Gov. Jeff Smith, her former boyfriend, recalls one time when he was running for office, his campaign managers phone rang. I worked in politics nine years before I ever moved to New York. Her plan is to emulate maybe the best-known and most successful insurgent move of recent campaign history: John McCains 2000 Straight Talk Express. A better response that is informed by all the facts is the most effective way to respond. A photo and audio tour of the hosts driving the conversation. They lead with emotion. That's why you've seen them lean on people like Olivia Rodrigo, Matthew McConaughey, the Jonas brothers. She is operating on two and a half hours of sleep, having just arrived back in New York on a charter jet from South Bend, Indiana, after Buttigieg announced he was running for president. Its just a personal part of my book. If Im going to be honest about other people and their shortcomings, its really important for me to be honest about myself and my own shortcomings, Smith told me. In what ways does your brand benefit from Petes, and in what ways does Petes brand benefit from yours? Wren: Could see a political career for him? And maybe I shouldve gone to law school. What is Lis Smiths secret sauce? Lis Smith is a veteran of twenty political campaigns. Running for politics theres got to be a little element of narcissism or whatever you want to call it in you. Now she has carefully orchestrated her own books launch doling out choice anecdotes to her beloved New York tabloids: De Blasio didnt trust NYPD security to keep secrets, ex-aide Lis Smith claims, blared one headline, which elicited an on the record statement from De Blasio himself. And I have a nice, quiet life where I dont live in Washington, D.C. It pisses me off, she adds, When candidates think they are too good for some of these outlets, or that it cheapens them to do TMZ or do a more entertainment-focused thing. Shes on her phone talking to another Buttigieg aide. She gravitates to candidates who are challenging and testing the status quo. Terry McAuliffe and former Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, and mostly survived the cauldron of New York politics, working on both ends of the long-simmering feud between former New York Gov. Lis Smith was just a college student when she worked on her first political campaign. Obama had David Axelrod. Smith: One of the reasons I wanted to write this book was because when I was thinking at 19 or 20 about getting into this world, [a book like this] didnt exist. In the car, wed go back and forth on random trivia, and pulling up things on Google. Smith: One of the things Ive learned over my time in politics is that youve got to let your candidates be themselves. Political Strategist & Author Lis Smith Says Women Are Needed Bill de Blasio, too. Tim Miller, my friend, wrote a great book weeks ago, where he talks about the danger of getting sucked up in the game. Its about hustling for opportunities. "We can't fool ourselves the Republicans are eating our lunch in terms of attention and viewership because of the unprecedented, unilateral, and arbitrary way the DNC Chair determined this. ), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo. Im horrified. From her days as a college intern for John Edwards to her own brush with the New York tabloids, the book traces her entertaining path to the height of the American political consultant class. . Across the street, Brooklyn hipsters of all ages and manner of facial hair are lining up around the block at a bowling alley/music venue to catch Buttigieg at a fundraiser. "He has been dismissed and discounted at every turn, and still overperformed expectations. Not surprisingly, her politics are establishment liberal. Smith: Dont make me praise Chris Meagher. How Lis Smith Turned Pete Buttigieg Into a Serious Contender Also how many, like, mind-games campaigns are playing with others. Lis Smith's Email & Phone - O'Malley for President - ContactOut Pete Buttigieg emerges as Democratic rock star proclaimed Business Insider during the race. Oftentimes its not going to be found in Washington, D.C. Hes someone who is involved fighting childhood hunger. Smith: You never say never. Smith ended up dropping most of her other clients, politicians and nonprofits alike. Liz Smith, shown here keeping crowds under control during Elliot Spitzer's campaign to become New York City Controller, is entitled to her privacy and dignity. Mistakes Ive made in my private life. padding:10px; Pete Buttigieg is the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana. People get stuck in a rut because something worked last cycle, and so they think it will work this cycle and it doesnt. Its sad, but our politics isnt built to deal with people who are reasonable. The obvious thing to do would have been to take on high-paying, quieter corporate gigs, or to reenter politics with someone truly high profile. Except then it didnt. Are you kidding me? Oversaturation? Weaver says that recreating that atmosphere in the days of Twitter, and in the days when the national political press corps has metastasized into a constantly hungry and multiheaded beast equipped with cell phones, is 10 times harder than when his team tried it in 1999. Letting Claire be Claire. Wren: Youve worked in a lot of red states South Dakota, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio. I would do that for free.). Retail politics matters much less if there are no local papers or local TV stations to go out and capture you on the campaign trail. Hes someone I ask for advice. Do you think the lack of in-person events hurt them later on in building a relationship with the eventual White House press corps? ", Before they get in the car, I ask Buttigieg if Smith is being helpful in his campaign. first campaign in 2006. And he is as squeaky clean behind the scenes as he is in front of the camera. I first met John Edwards when I was 19 or 20 years old. Her father was a partner at the white-shoe law firm Sidley Austin. There was only one path for us to break through. I know youre asking it in good faith, but I am declining to answer it in good faith. Buttigiegs rise from unlikeliest of contenders to actual top-tier presidential candidate has been fueled in part, maybe in large part, by his astonishing success courting the press. Pete has no battle scars. Everyone thought I was crazy. And when he was asked about that, he gave a really strong answer, and he took responsibility for things he did do in South Bend or things he didnt do in South Bend. Andy Garcia on Twitter: "It took THREE journalists to come up with this It was a reporter from BuzzFeed News, waiting to take my place. This is what day two looks like. Its just that I think with both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris that it would do the administration good to get out there a little bit more, and not to let the media and the Twitter dialogue get in your head, because most people dont speak like Pete Buttigieg in these beautiful, poetic, perfectly formed sentences. Smith has made a name for herself in recent months by working with a new crop of candidates in the middle of the country, including Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (center). I have talked to all the guys who see in the shots. And I talked about that in the book. And it was the first time Id worked in politics that Id ever felt that way. In that same vein, I know that there were people in the transportation secretarys inner circle that thought his taking that position wasnt the best idea. If you are not someone who is an established name, it's really hard to break through. Chuck Kennedy/PFA. Adam Wren is national politics correspondent at POLITICO. Here are links to the candidates' staff pages: Campaign staff plays an important role in the presidential primaries. She is most well known for being the senior advisor for Pete Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign and the director of rapid response for Obama's 2012 campaign. I think I am impressive because I am a violinist and I went to Dartmouth and I speak French and have traveled all over the world and, I dont know, I know a lot about great apes, she says. Smith had moved to New York in 2013 to work for Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced former governor who had stepped down in a prostitution scandal. You deploy the F-bomb like Picasso used drypoint. After 20 campaigns flacking for candidates such as Transportation Secretary and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, former Virginia Gov. Smith is a fierce New York City-based Democratic operative who helped engineer the plan to get Buttigieg in front of not just national political reporters, but anybody with a camera or microphone. You write: Here we go said Larry Grisolano, Petes media consultant, stating the obvious. She signed on as a consultant when he was laying the groundwork for a long-shot campaign to become the chair of the Democratic National Committee. Smith managed communications for de Blasio throughout the campaign and in his transition to office; she was slated to do the same when de Blasio took office. It might not get you the votes, but I am not the political director. They know who they are and will not let consultants, pundits, whoever, change them. Candidates often appoint elected officials and other important figures in their party's coalition as chairs of their national campaign and state-level campaigns.[1]. Lis Smith - Ballotpedia And you are going to pay me to be really quick and really aggressive and to take on Mitt Romney? Wren: Tell me about that five percent credited to you. Click here to contact our editorial staff, and click here to report an error. I have a really close-knit group of friends who have nothing to do with politics. Smith marched him to the front of where the national and New York press were gathered, telling him, Are you ready for your first gaggle? He stayed until the matter was exhausted. } I dont live and breathe politics every day. I tell her that I have been calling around to former coworkers and associates, trying to get a sense of how she operates. He lives in New York. "What that looks like is going to a county that may be 80-20 . The Women Running 2020 Presidential Campaigns | Marie Claire It is my passion. And so my advice would just be, get out there more, especially with Kamala, go out there more. Lis Smith (@Lis_Smith) / Twitter Each was the political id the candidate couldnt, or wouldnt, express. Click here to contact our editorial staff, and click here to report an error. "Joe Biden has had one of the most successful first two years of any president in recent history," Smith said. This is so funny, because I was just saying to Mike Schmuhl, Pete's 2020 campaign manager and now chairman of the Indiana Democrats, that my dream project would be to take off an entire year and go to the big Democratic fundraising dinner in all 50 states. Her phone is literally exploding. There is a top political reporter for a major national newspaper apologizing for blowing off a meeting with Buttigieg earlier and trying to get one now, asking Smith, Will you ever forgive me?. The candidate and the campaign manager dutifully board the aircraft, and just when it seems the door is about to close, as they start looking around nervously, in comes Smith, sunglasses and coat still on, laptop and cords dangling from her arms, phone pressed against her ear. We are at the risk for seeing abortion rights eroded in more and more states. Maybe a story that would be 80-20 bad you can get down to 60-40 bad, and that little bit is worth it.. I love him. Smith, the famously aggressive political operative battle-honed in the brass knuckles politics of New York City and in red-state political tilts, plotted the rollout of Buttigiegs longshot presidential campaign. Smith: Joey Burrow is an incredible leader. Spitzer spokeswoman Lisa Linden said the break-up was amicable. Now, I understand that sounds completely sick. And if people like it they like it, and if they dont they were probably never going to vote for you anyway.. Honesty is really, really important to handling a crisis because you have to have all the facts at your disposal. [5] For a larger list of state campaign staff, visit Democracy in Action. She wants to know if Id seen Buttigieg answer a question about the Notre Dame fire from a French TV station, in French. Theres the article in the Atlantic where the writer met the mayor of South Bend, Indiana for a chicken tempura lunch in Manhattan. The list below shows notable staff departures found in media reports. I cant believe you didnt know that! Fantasy football we were competitive about that. The makeup of a candidate's staff can signal the strength of their support from influential party activists and whether they are aligning with a particular faction or group within the party. Smith: Yes. The Obama campaigns director of rapid response, Lis Smith, is not afraid to take the gloves off on Twitter. PDF For Immediate Release - Politico Letting Pete be Pete. Lis Smith is currently a Deputy Campaign Manager at O'Malley for President from May 2015 to February 2016 (10 months) in Baltimore, Maryland Area. And the fact that hes everywhere, from cable TV to Ebony to your local NPR show to your favorite sports podcast, means that a guy with no name recognition is suddenly hard to avoid. My advice is just go out there more, communicate more. Sign up for notifications from Insider! The private Terry is a lot more low-key, and lot more humble, a lot more thoughtful. Now after advising Pete Buttigieg, she's published a must-read memoir, 'Any Given Tuesday: A Political.