The Real Man Behind Obama: David Plouffe

by elrod, Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 02:21:16 AM EST

Receiving daily emails from David Plouffe, Campaign Manager for Barack Obama, I often wondered who the hell he was.  I couldn't even pronounce his name and I never heard a peep about him in the media. It was always David Axelrod or Bill Burton, but never David Plouffe.

Well, the Chicago Tribune just ran a nice piece on David Plouffe and how central he was to Obama's primary victory.

Think about the things that led to Obama's victory:

1) No drama. How rare did we hear of internal rumblings in the Obama campaign. Almost never did we hear them, in fact, even during low moments like last October or Reverend Wright. Thank David Plouffe for this. Obama demanded no drama and Plouffe kept the ship in order. Look at ANY other campaign and you can see how difficult it is keep a lid on things.

2) Keep the money coming in. It was Plouffe who managed the historic fundraising apparatus over the internet.

3) Spend wisely. Saving money wherever possible, Plouffe allowed Obama to spend however much he needed when he traveled.

4) Keep message discipline. Though this was more Axelrod's function, Plouffe was clearly a key player in keeping the campaign team on message.

5) Morale control. Like Obama, David Plouffe never got too high or too low. What an emotionally exhausting event this campaign must have been. But Plouffe insisted nobody lose focus.

6) Caucuses. It was Plouffe more than anybody else who figured out that winning the caucus states would give Obama the victory.
Plouffe knew the process inside and out, and set the organizational teams out to place like North Dakota and Idaho.

7) Numbers. Plouffe "released" the famous memo that predicted so many post-Super Tuesday results.  He was Poblano-like in his accuracy for much of the season.

8) Organization. Atop the massive grassroots Obama organization stood David Plouffe. He didn't manage the organization so much as facilitate it.

I just thought this utterly impressive person deserved some serious kudos here. He will be even more critical in the general election. When you get an email from David Plouffe, know that you are hearing from a remarkable person.




Tags: David Plouffe (all tags)

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Re: The Real Man Behind Obama: David Plouffe (none / 0)

I thought it was Moustache Ax who was more into the marketing strategy.


Educated in a small town Taught to fear Jesus in a small town Used to daydream in that small town Another born romantic that's me.
by lori on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 02:24:37 AM EST

What sort of marketing? (none / 0)

I think Axelrod was more on the messaging side. Plouffe was the internal guy who ran the ship.


by elrod on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 02:25:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What sort of marketing? (none / 0)

I think Ax deserves much more of the credit than whoever the hell this guy is.

It was his messaging that worked out for him in the end.

If it wasn't for his messaging he probably won't have been successful.


Educated in a small town Taught to fear Jesus in a small town Used to daydream in that small town Another born romantic that's me.
by lori on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 02:28:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What sort of marketing? (none / 0)

Well sure. But think of all the internal drama with Penn and Wolfson and McAuliffe. For that matter, think of McCain ditching his whole campaign team last summer.

You can only get your message out if your campaign is run well. The media LOVES to cover "Campaign in Disarray" stories. Think of how many chances there were when the Wright videos came out for some "anonymous Obama campaign official" to express "grave concern" or something about how it was all going. Reporters scour campaigns for those sorts of things.

Ironically enough, a great example of successful campaign management is Bush in 2004. Matthew Dowd  did a spectacular job keeping everybody organized and in line behind the scenes. Then Karl Rove could do his strategizin and Ken Mehlman could keep everybody on message. It was a real machine.

Compare it to McCain and you've got Amateur Hour.

In fact, one of the reasons I'm confident about the general election is the ad hoc nature of McCain's campaign.


by elrod on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 02:34:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What sort of marketing? (none / 0)

Obama specifically thanked Plouffe on Tuesday night, so he clearly was extremely important to the effort. I don't recall Axelrod being mentioned.

In my experience, oftentimes the people behind the scenes are indispinsible but rarely recognized.


We care about politics because we know politics matters for people's lives and opportunities.
by politicsmatters on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 08:38:27 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What sort of marketing? (none / 0)

Ax basically ran Deval Patrick 2. 0 with Obama and he was successful at it.

Voters don't really see all that internal stuff.


Educated in a small town Taught to fear Jesus in a small town Used to daydream in that small town Another born romantic that's me.
by lori on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 02:31:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What sort of marketing? (2.00 / 1)

But that's the point. What voters DON'T see is critical to a winning campaign. You don't want voters to hear all the internal drama.


by elrod on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 02:35:28 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Moustache Ax??? lmao - classic. (none / 0)


"Me Fail English? That's Unpossible." Ralph Wiggum
by canadian gal on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 02:33:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Moustache Ax??? lmao - classic. (2.00 / 1)

yeah , someone should remind him there is this new invention called the shaving stick.


Educated in a small town Taught to fear Jesus in a small town Used to daydream in that small town Another born romantic that's me.
by lori on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 02:40:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Real Man Behind Obama: David Plouffe (none / 0)

I'm willing to bet Obama's experience at the grass roots level didn't hurt, either.

Wikipedia him and take a peek. Obama has been organizing communities and legislators for fricking years.  


Gobama!
by USArmyParatrooper on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 02:31:57 AM EST

Re: The Real Man Behind Obama: David Plouffe (none / 0)

True. He worked perfectly with Plouffe. But who ever imagined you could organize a country the way you can a community?


by elrod on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 02:36:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Real Man Behind Obama: David Plouffe (none / 0)

I agree. Everyone talks about Bush being the guy you'd want to drink a beer with. Fuck that! I'd be bored. I would LOVE to have a beer with Obama and pick his brain.


Gobama!
by USArmyParatrooper on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 02:38:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Real Man Behind Obama: David Plouffe (none / 0)

There are some wonderful discussions of this aspect of Obama's campaign over at The Field.


We care about politics because we know politics matters for people's lives and opportunities.
by politicsmatters on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 08:39:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Plouffe (2.00 / 1)

is a delegate genius, he was places like NC in March.  He was on the ground getting things set up ahead of time.  I hope that he is as able in the GE.


Student Guy=JoeMentum. No really Student Guy=JoeMentum, after all JoeMentum was an embarrassment so is Student Guy. This sig is FAIL!!
by Student Guy on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 02:36:47 AM EST

Re: The Real Man Behind Obama: David Plouffe (2.00 / 1)

Whoever figured out the Obama strategy was a genius. If it was Plouffe then he is. Basically the Clinton's inability to master the screwy rules of the Democratic nominating process was the key factor in their defeat.  


by ottovbvs on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 08:53:27 AM EST

Re: Screwy rules? (none / 0)

I actually like them -- certainly compared to the Republican winner-take-all rules.


by Brad G on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 10:59:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Real Man Behind Obama: David Plouffe (none / 0)

I'll give credit where it's due but Plouffle and Axlerod were my two least favorite people in this primary. Their pressers were quite something. Hopefully they will retire next go around. I don't think the public will fall for their off the shelf message campaign. Edwards,Patrick and now Obama all had speeches that sounded the same. Very fake and plastic.


by Iceblinkjm on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 09:40:14 AM EST

bravo for your bravo of Plouffe (none / 0)

There is no question that Plouffe is one of the key people that made it happen.  The public doesn't know Plouffe because he is camera shy (he did lead a lot of the media calls).  I can't remember him ever being on one of the babbling cable shows.

My comment to your diary on dkos:

Last year, I was able to be in two small groups with Plouffe and ask him questions.  He, like Obama and Axelrod, is consistent, calm and measured.  This created a much different internal campaign dynamic than the one created by more flamboyant and hyperbolic people like Bill Clinton, Terry McAuliffe, Lanny Davis, Harold Ickes and Mark Penn.  Plouffe was important to help create and sustain the business-like and focused atmosphere of the campaign.

By October, some people were getting nervous because the campaign had not really seemed to catch on as defined by national polling and national media.   But the campaign knew and kept reassuring everyone that the whole ballgame was Iowa and we were always pretty close in all Iowa polling throughout 2007.


Our Moment Is Now
by mboehm on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 10:03:27 AM EST

Re: The Real Man Behind Obama: David Plouffe (none / 0)

Obama campaign: In a successful team it's impossible to tell who contibuted most because everyone helps everyone else without thought of credit.

Clinton campaign: In a failed team it's impossible to pin the blame because everyone is trying pin it someone on else with thought only of saving their own skins.


Anybody's vote is worth having. But not everybody's vote is worth campaigning for.
by Freespeechzone on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 12:19:07 PM EST


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