David Plouffe

David Plouffe
Senior Advisor to the President
In office January 10, 2011 – January 25, 2013
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	David Axelrod
Succeeded by	Dan Pfeiffer
Personal details
Born	(1967-05-27) May 27, 1967 Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	University of Delaware, Newark
Religion	Episcopalianism

David Plouffe (/ˈplʌf/; born May 27, 1967)^[1][2] is an American political strategist best known as the campaign manager for Barack Obama's successful 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 Uber.^[5] In May 2015, he left that role to become a full-time strategic adviser for the company.^[6]

Early life

Plouffe was born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware,^[7] in a Catholic family (he is now an Episcopalian),^[8] 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.^[9][10] He was raised in a working-class household.^[11] 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.^[12]

Career

Plouffe began his political career by working for Senator Tom Harkin's 1990 re-election campaign.^[13] 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.

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.

2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign

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 then-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".^[14] 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.^[14]

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".^[15] 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".^[16]

2009–2011

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,^[17] 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.^[18][19] He signed with the Washington Speakers Bureau to give paid speeches and plans to engage in non-government consulting work.^[20]

In May 2009, Plouffe delivered the convocation address at Cornell University.^[21] 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

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.^[22]

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.^[23]

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.”^[24]

Career after the White House

After leaving the White House in early 2013, Plouffe became a contributor for Bloomberg TV and ABC News.^[25]

In April 2013, Plouffe was inducted into the American Association of Political Consultants Hall of Fame.^[26]

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.^[27]

On August 19, 2014, Plouffe was appointed as Senior Vice President of Policy and Strategy at Uber, the ride-sharing company. ^[28]

Controversy

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.^[29][30]

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.^[31]

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".^[32]

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.^{[33][34][35][36][37][38]}

Works

• 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

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,^[39][40] and Director of Federal Relations to Gray Davis when he was governor of California.^[41] The couple resides in San Francisco, and have a daughter, who was born two days after the 2008 presidential election, and a son.^[42]

See also

• Organizing for America

References

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• David Plouffe Ubben Lecture at DePauw University, February 2, 2009
• interview at Conde Nast Portfolio
• Radio interview with Claudia Cragg KGNU on 'The Audacity to Win

Obama Administration personnel
Cabinet and cabinet-level Office Name Term Office Name Term Secretary of State John Kerry 2013– Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew 2013– Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter 2015– Attorney General Loretta Lynch 2015– Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell 2013– Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack 2009– Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker 2013– Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez 2013– Secretary of Health and   Human Services Sylvia Mathews Burwell 2014– Secretary of Education Secretary of Transportation Arne Duncan Anthony Foxx 2009– 2013– Secretary of Housing and Urban   Development Julian Castro 2014– Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert A. McDonald 2014– Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz 2013– Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson 2013– Vice President Joe Biden 2009– White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough 2013– Director of the Office of Management and   Budget Shaun Donovan 2014– Administrator of the Environmental   Protection Agency Gina McCarthy 2013– Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power 2013– Chair of the Council of Economic   Advisers Jason Furman 2013– Trade Representative Michael Froman 2013– Administrator of the Small Business Administration Maria Contreras-Sweet 2014– Below solid line: Granted Cabinet rank although not automatically part of the Cabinet. See also: Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet
Executive Office of the President Office Name Term Office Name Term White House Chief of Staff White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Rahm Emanuel Pete Rouse William M. Daley Jack Lew Denis McDonough Mona Sutphen Nancy-Ann DeParle Rob Nabors 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013– 2009–11 2011–13 2013–15 National Security Advisor Deputy National Security Advisor Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan Jim Jones Thomas E. Donilon Susan Rice Thomas E. Donilon Denis McDonough Tony Blinken Avril Haines Douglas Lute† 2009–10 2010–13 2013– 2009–10 2010–13 2013–14 2015– 2009–13 White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Jim Messina Alyssa Mastromonaco Anita Decker Breckenridge 2009–11 2011–14 2014– Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security Ben Rhodes John O. Brennan Lisa Monaco 2009– 2009–13 2013– White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Planning Mark B. Childress Kristie Canegallo 2012–14 2014– Deputy National Security Advisor and NSC Chief of Staff Denis McDonough Brooke Anderson 2009–10 2011–12 Senior Advisor to the President David Axelrod David Plouffe Daniel Pfeiffer Shailagh Murray 2009–11 2011–13 2013–15 2015– White House Communications Director Anita Dunn Daniel Pfeiffer Jennifer Palmieri Jen Psaki 2009 2009–13 2013–15 2015– Senior Advisor to the President Counselor to the President Pete Rouse Brian Deese Pete Rouse John Podesta 2009–10 2015– 2011–13 2014–15 Deputy White House Communications Director Jen Psaki Jennifer Palmieri Amy Brundage 2009–11 2011–14 2014–15 Senior Advisor to the President and Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs Director of Public Engagement Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Director, National Economic Council Valerie Jarrett Christina Tchen Jon Carson Paulette Aniskoff Cecilia Muñoz David Agnew Jerry Abramson Lawrence Summers Gene Sperling Jeffrey Zients 2009– 2009–11 2011–13 2013– 2009–12 2012–14 2014– 2009–10 2011–14 2014– White House Press Secretary Deputy Press Secretary Director of Special Projects Director of Speechwriting White House Counsel Robert Gibbs Jay Carney Josh Earnest Bill Burton Josh Earnest Eric Schultz Stephanie Cutter Jon Favreau Cody Keenan Greg Craig Robert Bauer Kathryn Ruemmler Neil Eggleston 2009–11 2011–13 2013– 2009–11 2011–13 2014– 2010–11 2009–13 2013– 2009–10 2010–11 2011–14 2014– Deputy Director, National Economic Council Deputy Director, National Economic Council Chair of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board Diana Farrell Brian Deese Jason Furman Paul Volcker 2009–11 2011–13 2009–13 2009–11 Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs Phil Schiliro Rob Nabors Miguel Rodriguez Katie Beirne Fallon 2009–11 2011–13 2013 2013– Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors Christina Romer Austan Goolsbee Jason Furman 2009–10 2010–13 2013– Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs Lisa Konwinski Amy Rosenbaum 2009– 2014– Member of the Council of Economic Advisors Katharine Abraham 2011– Executive Clerk George T. Saunders† David Kalbaugh 2009–12 2012– Member of the Council of Economic Advisors Cecilia Rouse 2009– Director, Office of Political Affairs Patrick Gaspard David Simas 2009–11 2013– Director, Office of Management and Budget Peter R. Orszag Jack Lew Jeffrey Zients Sylvia Mathews Burwell Brian Deese Shaun Donovan 2009–10 2010–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014 2014– Chief Technology Officer Chief Information Officer Aneesh Chopra Todd Park Megan Smith Vivek Kundra Steven VanRoekel Tony Scott 2009–12 2012–14 2014– 2009–11 2011–14 2015– Chief Performance Officer and Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget Jeffrey Zients 2009–13 Director, Office of Presidential Personnel Nancy Hogan Johnathan McBride Valerie Green 2010–14 2014–15 2015– Deputy Director, Office of Management and Budget Jeffrey Liebman Heather Higginbottom Brian Deese 2010 2011–13 2013–15 Director of Scheduling and Advance Director, White House Military Office Alyssa Mastromonaco Danielle White Crutchfield George D. Mulligan Jr. Emmett Beliveau 2009–11 2011– 2009–13 2013– United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk Michael Froman 2009–13 2013– Cabinet Secretary Chris Lu Broderick Johnson 2009–13 2013– Director, Domestic Policy Council Melody Barnes Cecilia Muñoz 2009–12 2012– Deputy Cabinet Secretary Liz Sears Smith Rachana Bhowmik Michael Robertson Gaurab Bansal 2009–11 2011–13 2013–15 2015– Deputy Director, Domestic Policy Council Heather Higginbottom Mark Zuckerman 2009–11 2011– Staff Secretary Lisa Brown Rajesh De Douglas Kramer Joani Walsh 2009–11 2011–12 2012–13 2014– Director, Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Joshua DuBois Melissa Rogers 2009–2013 2013– Assistant to the President for Management and Administration Bradley Kiley Katy Kale Maju Varghese 2009–13 2013–15 2015– Director, Office of Health Reform Nancy-Ann DeParle 2009–11 Director, Oval Office Operations Micaela Fernandez Brian Mosteller 2009–12 2012– Deputy Director, Office of Health Reform Jeanne Lambrew 2009–2011 Personal Aide to the President Reggie Love Marvin Nicholson 2009–11 2011– Director, Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy Carol Browner 2009–11 Personal Secretary to the President Katie Johnson Anita Decker Breckenridge Ferial Govashiri 2009–11 2011–14 2014– Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Heather Zichal Dan Utech 2009–2013 2013– Special Projects Coordinator and Confidential Assistant to the President Eugene Kang 2009–11 Director, Council on Environmental Quality Nancy Sutley Michael Boots 2009–2014 2014– Director, Office of National AIDS Policy Jeffrey Crowley Grant Cofax Douglas Brooks 2009–2011 2012–2014 2014– Chief of Staff to the First Lady   Jackie Norris Susan Sher Christina Tchen 2009 2009–10 2011– Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy Gil Kerlikowske Michael Botticelli 2009–14 2014– White House Social Secretary Desirée Rogers Julianna Smoot Jeremy Bernard Deesha Dyer 2009–10 2010–11 2011–15 2015– Director, Office of Urban Affairs Adolfo Carrión Jr. Racquel Russell 2009–2010 2010– Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy John Holdren 2009– *Senate-confirmation pending.   †Remained from previous administration(s).
Office of the Vice President Position Appointee Chief of Staff to the Vice President Steve Ricchetti Counsel to the Vice President Cynthia Hogan Counselor to the Vice President Mike Donilon Assistant to the Vice President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison Evan Ryan Assistant to the Vice President and Director of Communications Shailagh Murray Deputy Chief of Staff to the Vice President Shailagh Murray Deputy National Security Adviser to the Vice President Brian McKeon Residence Manager and Social Secretary for the Vice President and Second Lady Carlos Elizondo National Security Adviser to the Vice President Colin Kahl Position Appointee Chief of Staff to the Second Lady Catherine M. Russell Director of Administration for the Office of the Vice President Moises Vela Domestic Policy Adviser to the Vice President Terrell McSweeny Chief Economist and Economic Policy Adviser to the Vice President Jared Bernstein Press Secretary to the Vice President Elizabeth Alexander Deputy Press Secretary to the Vice President Annie Tomasini Director of Legislative Affairs Sudafi Henry Director of Communications for the Second Lady Courtney O’Donnell