Yeah. Most people do have nerdy sides to them. You recently signed on with Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval. It was younger reporters, super-hungry reporters that really know how to use Twitter, people who can then go to a cocktail party and tell their friends they had a beer with this guy Pete Buttigieg three hours from now. Smith: Mayor Pete is where Mayor Pete is now because Mayor Pete is just one of the most uniquely talented members of the Democratic Party. So many flacks lose their mind over inconsequential things, and have no sense of, This is good press, this is mediocre press, and this is awful press. That is something you know once you have been through awful press., As a flack, you dont always understand what it feels like to be a principal, what it feels like to be under scrutiny. Not possible, Smith says. One thing I find incredibly admirable about him is what you see is what you get. It was a slim path. 2022: Hell of a Week with Charlamagne Tha God as Self: 2021: Mayor Pete: 2003: Real Time with Bill Maher as Self: Clear; She has advised New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe and Montana Governor Steve Bullock, people who on paper at least are far more likely top-tier presidential contenders, and she served as a top aide for a number of Senate and gubernatorial races. I worked in states like South Dakota, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia. He's on his way into a black car to do Maddow. But there have been a few times when Ive been around him when I knew something, a factoid or something he didnt know, and let me tell you, I fucking lord it all over him. That was my philosophy. Operations: Meghann Olshefski Mandy Morris Kelly Rindfleisch And you are going to pay me to be really quick and really aggressive and to take on Mitt Romney?
Pete Buttigieg presidential campaign staff, 2020 - Ballotpedia The two of us talked this week about Buttigiegs political future, whether Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow could jump into politics, and the ingredients of a good political candidate. Not to be cheesy, but it is one of my proudest accomplishments. She is practically shaking with excess energy. Jeff Smith, her former boyfriend, recalls one time when he was running for office, his campaign managers phone rang. CNN's Dana Bash speaks to Senior Political Commentator and former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, former Buttigieg campaign adviser Lis Smith, CNN Political Commentator David Urban and CNN . | Scott Olson/Getty Images, Lis has an insurgent mentality, said Axelrod, a top aide for both of President Obamas campaigns. Except then it didnt. He was out there. Chuck Kennedy/PFA. He looked white as a ghost, didnt say anything, just nodding along. And if people like me dont get involved, then Im scared about the future of our country. | Mark Peterson/Redux, Yuki Iwamura/Redux. And as you saw on Fox News Sunday, as I went to bed last night, [his clip] has 8 million views. Pete Buttigieg's 38-year-old ex-campaign manager and childhood pal is telling Democrats how they can win back rural America . How badly," she asks me, are you trying to fuck me over right now?, Interactive: The Lo-Fi Voices That Speak for AmericaBy M. Scott Mahaskey and Zack Stanton. Axelrod told Buttigieg about Smith, and OMalley told Smith about this young mayor from South Bend. My first impression was that he was a bit goofy and unserious, and never, never, ever in my wildest dreams did I think I would be sitting across the table from him 10 years later, interviewing to work for him as he was about to be the incoming mayor of New York. But there may be no political couple odder than that of Buttigieg and Smith. From 2006 to 2010 she stayed busy, participating in numerous gubernatorial campaigns, and then in 2012 being named the rapid response director for the Barack Obama . It makes it much harder for candidates to get their message out, and it puts a premium on money versus having the best policy prescriptions, or being the bestcampaigner. And you dont know who is actually going to attack you. "Joe Biden has had one of the most successful first two years of any president in recent history," Smith said. [2] He suspended his campaign on March 1, 2020.[3].
How Lis Smith Turned Pete Buttigieg Into a Serious Contender Stay up to date with what you want to know. What makes him such a magnet for criticism on both the left and the right? He doesnt yell and scream, take the most extreme positions on issues, or tweet incendiary things. I like to call myself the Forrest Gump of politics but in a positive way because I feel like I have been a random witness to just so many seemingly insignificant things that then turned out to be like big historic events. I think hes a really good person. Eliot Spitzer]. Shes a Black half-South-Indian woman. 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 plotted the rollout of Pete Buttigiegs longshot presidential campaign. It obviously leads to a lot less accountability for politicians. And no, politics is my love. Politics has a bias toward the status quo, she says. Lis Smith is a veteran of twenty political campaigns. and this amazing panel for a great conversation about campaign journalism! I am here to get you clips. She worked on campaigns for Jon Corzine, for New Jersey governor; Terry McAuliffe, for governor of Virginia; and. This includes with her own boss. I want Democrats to read this book. Seeing how Pete cuts through with people and what a truly effective messenger hes become for the Democratic Party, it makes you realize: Theres not just one Mayor Pete. They just get swallowed up by the next news cycle, and never reach the voters who matter anyway. He shoots her a look and gives a mock shrug, as if it's an inside joke between the three of us, now old chums: I mean, a little I guess., Buttigieg makes an appearance on "The View." She knew Axelrod from 2012, when she worked as director of rapid response for President Barack Obamas reelection effort. Because he was a badass. She was the deputy campaign director for Martin O'Malley's 2016 presidential campaign. She became obsessed with the idea of working for him, then became further obsessed when she actually met him, and developed the notion that once people got to meet him they would start to like him. Wren: I want a window into how you advise candidates amid a crisis. Going back to when the 2020 campaign went virtual, how do you think the Biden team has handled its messaging since then? How consequential was that looking back? They have one man to thank. Smith: I think a lot of people get a very one-dimensional view of me. Did it worry you that he might not be the candidate with whom people most wanted to have a beer or should we say, get lit with? He announced he was running for the Democratic presidential nomination on January 23, 2019, and formally kicked off his campaign on April 14, 2019. Smith: Im not going to say who. Lis Smith is a veteran of twenty political campaigns. Wren: What do you look for in a candidate? Buttigieg reignited Smiths love for politics, she says, after a really difficult 2015 and 2016 due to her breakup with former New York Gov. [4], In 2012, Smith was the rapid response director for Barack Obama's (D) presidential campaign. . Because even power needs a day off.
Eliot Spitzer and Lis Smith Break Up - TOTPI Spitzer spokeswoman Lisa Linden said the break-up was amicable. Theyre just not looking in the right places. I love him. [1] She was the deputy campaign director for Martin O'Malley's 2016 presidential campaign. Just before he was sworn in, de Blasio yielded to Peysers prodding and cut Smith loose just before he moved into the mayors office. She is 36, a year younger than Buttigieg, which, Thank God. Buttigieg campaigns in Iowa shortly after officially announcing his bid for the Democratic nomination for president. He hung up and looked at me in horror, and then my phone started ringing. TV news executives are calling, she says, emailing, now complaining that Buttigieg isnt doing their shows often enough. I would say that these days, my vetting skills are maybe a little savvier. She texts the buzziest bits to her sprawling network of journalistic contacts, who tweet them out. Lis Smith, may find her job in . And you know what their problem is? The whole saga also taught her the rhythms of the New York tabloids, which have similarities to the national political press. Smith has been studying the effort, reaching out to reporters who were there, and has been in regular contact with John Weaver, who helped engineer it. He laid out his case for how a millennial municipal official from a town the size of a New York City Council district could somehow seize the Democratic nomination. Elliot Spitzer (pictured), the election of Donald Trump and former Maryland Gov. I'm not saying that it affects him negatively, but it's an interesting question. Smith: It made me want to be better at my job. Smith: You never say never. Lets just blow it out. | Elijah Nouvelage/REUTERS. I see that being taken so far out of context. She orders a beer, downs it and orders another. The good candidates have humility. Smith a Bengals fan believes quarterback Joe Burrow is a great leader with a clear social conscience, and she wouldnt rule out the possibility of him having a political career. Gripping reads, smart analysis and a bit of high-minded fun. Staff are presented alongside their positions in the campaign, their most recent positions prior to the campaign, and their Twitter handles. I have talked to all the guys who see in the shots. For example, you write in your book about going to a pop-up bar in South Bend with Pete and his best friend and campaign manager, Mike Schmuhl. Letting Pete be Pete. Policy: Christopher Nelson Caitlin Styrsky Molly Byrne Jimmy McAllister Samuel Postell Usually, it was all good-natured. This is how we stop there from being a day three. I really did feel he treated me as an equal. Oh really, you didnt know that? After 20 campaigns flacking for candidates such as Transportation Secretary and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill,. I want political people to read this book, because I think its fun. Lis Smith is recording this call. I worked in politics nine years before I ever moved to New York.
President Biden announces he's running for reelection in 2024 : NPR It is 5:15 on a Monday evening. It was by no means an obvious career move for Smith. Mistakes that Ive made with media. Before a debate, you have no idea how much gossip is going around. Because Pete is so Midwestern nice, I think it was helpful for him to have someone who could help kick him into another gear, and sort of push him to have the more aggressive instinct you need to break through in a presidential race. Smith, who helped take Buttigieg's star to the national level, is now working with Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow, who went viral with a searing counterattack on anti-LGBTQ+ Republicans.. In my book, I sort of get at this, but we are sort of an odd couple. Pete helped pull back that part of me, because while that might work when youre dealing in the New York tabloids, that doesnt sell as well in the Des Moines Register. You can unsubscribe at any time and you can contact us here. In 2016 she was deputy campaign manager for Martin O'Malley, the Democratic governor of Maryland who ran for the White House. Wren: Lets talk about another Cincinnatian: Joey Burrow, your Bengals politically outspoken quarterback. Keep in mind she was 22 at the time, Smith said. which Politico Magazine excerpted last week. Days after Pete Buttigieg officially launched his presidential campaign in mid-April, his senior adviser on communications, Lis Smith, found herself in the bathroom of her Manhattan apartment . Wren: One of your legacies is the coaching tree, to use an apt football metaphor, that you left behind on the Pete campaign. He stood out obviously because of his height, but he was one of those guys that was almost overly enthusiastic about knocking on doors and making phone calls, to the point that everyone else around the office sort of rolled their eyes.
The Women Running 2020 Presidential Campaigns | Marie Claire [3], Lis Smith began working on campaigns shortly after graduating from Dartmouth College. Hes someone I ask for advice. [4], According to the Washington Post, Lis Smith began working with Martin O'Malley in 2011 during "the first part of his tenure as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. But I appreciate his courage in being willing to speak out about it. Smith also. Now, I understand that sounds completely sick. People get stuck in a rut because something worked last cycle, and so they think it will work this cycle and it doesnt.
To Know Mayor Pete, Look at His Top Adviser's Underreported Past - Vice Letting Terry be Terry. Lis Smith is a Democratic campaign communications specialist and co-founder of 50 State Communications in New York. He announced he was running for the Democratic presidential nomination on January 23, 2019, and formally kicked off his campaign on April 14, 2019. Maybe a story that would be 80-20 bad you can get down to 60-40 bad, and that little bit is worth it..