...
By Newsweek Editors
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
With unemployment hovering around 8.6 percent and approval ratings mired in the mid-40s, Obama is embarking on a historically challenging reelection run. He'll need all the help he can get.
...
With unemployment hovering around 8.6 percent and approval ratings mired in the mid-40s, Obama is embarking on a historically challenging reelection run. He'll need all the help he can get.
Read More on U.S.
...
While the whiz kid behind Obama's revolutionary 2008 run now works at the White House, his influence is still felt in Chicago, where tech and organization reign supreme. Consults from D.C. on major decisions.
...
Obama's longtime message guru and closest political confidant isn't an "official" strategist. But he's at HQ constantly and is the driving force behind the president's increasingly populist rhetoric.
...
Formerly Obama's top legislative fixer, the hard-driving Messina spent more than a decade running campaigns and Capitol Hill operations for (mostly) red-state Dems. Great qualifications--but he's never helmed a presidential bid.
...
The well-connected Smoot served as finance director on the 2008 campaign before heading to Washington as social secretary. She returns to the Windy City to oversee the massive cash flow under Messina.
...
A top Dem communications aide who worked on both Bill Clinton's and John Kerry's White House bids, Cutter arrived in Chicago in late 2011 to sharpen Obama's pitch for election season.
...
Jennifer O'Malley Dillon worked to perfect Obama's ground game, first as battleground-states director during the 2008 campaign, then at the DNC. She resumes her efforts in Chicago.
...
A hard-driving Obamaworld veteran--he's long served as a top press spokesman--LaBolt runs Chicago's daily media strategy, including its frequent attacks on Mitt Romney.
...
As chief integration and innovation officer, Slaby—Obama's CTO in 2008—is working with chief digital strategist Joe Rospars to trump the last campaign's legendary social-media and tech savvy.
...
Bird mobilized voters in South Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Ohio during the 2008 campaign, then kept Organizing for America running at the DNC. He already has ground efforts cranking in most key states.
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines