David Plouffe

The Obama campaign just sent supporters the following email:

Did you see the debate last night?

 

If you did, you saw more gotcha politics and distractions than questions about the pressing issues affecting our country.

In fact, it took more than 45 minutes before Barack was asked about the economy, health care, or foreign policy.  read more »

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Obama campaign manager David Plouffe tried to land some belated counterpunches for his debate-battered candidate on a conference call just now.

He argued that "over half the country's voters" do not find Senator Clinton "trustworthy," because she has run a negative campaign. "Her campaign can really be defined as an attack strategy," he said, and called it a "Relentlessly negative campaign here at the end."  read more »

On Monday, April 14, Mariah Carey—“incredibly well-funded, corporately polished,” according to the bitter pop music critic of the Chicago Sun-Times—was on Oprah, stumping for votes.

“Now Mariah didn’t get her new body just by eating artichokes,” said Oprah.

Cut to the video, Mariah at the pool in a black bodysuit.

“I’m a female and I like the arms to be slender and toned!” said Mariah.

Mariah got the whole first 42 minutes of the show, and also, her new CD came out the next day!

Midway through her appearance, a mass e-mail was sent from David Plouffe, Barack Obama’s campaign manager: “You’ve probably heard about the latest dust-up in the Democratic race,” it opened.  read more »

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe defended General Merrill "Tony" McPeak in a conference call this morning for making controversial remarks comparing Bill Clinton to Joseph McCarthy, after the former president implied that John McCain and Hillary Clinton are "two people who love this country."

Plouffe was asked if Barack Obama agreed with McPeak's remarks, which McPeak interpreted as a deliberate exlcusion of Obama as a patriotic American. Obama would have used different words to express the sentiment, Plouffe argued, but "the point was a fair reading of that."

Plouffe drew a connection between the former president's remarks this weekend and Hillary Clinton's recent statement that she and McCain have met the commander in chief test. "There is a pattern and a history here," Plouffe said.

Plouffe again refused to walk back McPeak's comments later in the call. "Questioning patriotism is something we don't think has a place in this campaign," he said, adding, "We think it was pretty clear what the intention was there and we don't think it is right."

Clinton's communications director, Howard Wolfson, has called McPeak's interpretation a "deliberately pathetic misreading of what the president said."  read more »

In a conference call just now, the Obama campaign tried to use a Clinton-campaign line of attack on Hillary Clinton, saying she is an untrustworthy candidate who has not been sufficiently vetted—and who suffers from a "character gap" that would hurt her electability in November.

"She would be a deeply flawed nominee," said campaign manager David Plouffe.  read more »

The day after losing badly in Mississippi, Hillary Clinton's team is back to an aggressive push on seating Michigan and Florida delegates, with or without a revote.

Not only did Maggie Williams write a letter to David Plouffe this morning, but the Clinton campaign just sent out a release with remarks Clinton made at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. this morning. According to the release, she said both that “[t]he results of those primaries [in Michigan and Florida] were fair and they should be honored,” and that “there are two options: Honor the results or hold new primary elections.”  read more »

On a conference call that just ended, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe sought to raise questions about Hillary Clinton's unreleased tax returns, but instead ended up fielding questions about controversies involving advisers to his own campaign.

"This point about vetting and electablility does raise some questions about Senator Clinton," said Plouffe, responding to the Clinton campaign's assertion that Obama had not been sufficiently vetted. He added, "Hillary Clinton is one of the most secretive politicians in America today."  read more »

Here are two letters the Obama campaign has sent out to supporters, one from campaign manager David Plouffe arguing that they came away with a delegate advantage after Tuesday, and another from Barack Obama trumpeting the campaign's $55 million haul in February.

Plouffe uses the word "failed" again to describe the Clinton campaign's efforts to dent their delegate lead and Obama talks about the "staggering " number that has helped them keep their commanding lead (for the record, as of this morning the Clinton campaign disagreed about the delegate count):  read more »

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said on a conference call this morning that no matter what happens in Texas and Ohio on Tuesday, the Clinton campaign will not be able to make significant progress in cutting Barack Obama’s delegate lead.

“If this pledged delegate lead doesn’t drop below 100, they simply don’t have any avenue toward the nomination,” said Plouffe, echoing comments he made after the Wisconsin primary.

He added, “There’s a reality here. And the numbers aren’t arguable.” And, “The question is how many pledged delegates do they gain on Tuesday.”  read more »

The Obama campaign is about to hold a call about a 527 being organized by Clinton allies, but they've already started raising money off the group. Here's a fund-raising letter that campaign manager David Plouffe just sent out to supporters:

News broke yesterday that a few wealthy Clinton supporters are gearing up for a massive spending campaign to boost her chances in the big upcoming contests in Texas and Ohio on March 4th.

The so-called "American Leadership Project" will take unlimited contributions from individuals and is organized the same way as the infamous Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.  read more »

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Obama campaign manager David Plouffe seemed to be setting expectations low for February 5 on a conference call with reporters this morning, but he also seemed optimistic about the relationship between his candidate’s supporters and Edwards’ supporters.

“Senator Clinton started [this race] with a lot of advantages,” Plouffe said. “We’re pleased with the progress we’ve made since South Carolina.” But, he added, “We still have a ways to go in what should be an interesting and tight contest on February 5.  read more »

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe did not deny, when asked, that Mark Penn’s characterization of Obama’s speech yesterday as an attack on Hillary Clinton was off-base.

"Well you know that was an important speech yesterday," Plouffe said during a conference call with reporters, adding that Obama was making "a strong case for his candidacy” during the speech.  read more »

Barack Obama’s campaign manager said they’ve raised $5 million online since the polls closed in South Carolina, and they’ll be advertising on television in New York starting tomorrow.

“We will be going on New York broadcast television and Philadelphia broadcast television tomorrow with a couple of spots, which we’ll be sending around later today,” national campaign manager David Plouffe told reporters on a conference call just now.  read more »

Obama campaign manager is declaring a victory of sorts in Nevada, after their campaign edged out Hillary Clinton in delegates, 13 to 12.

“In terms of the delegate count we came out with a one-delegate lead,” Plouffe said in a conference call that just ended with reporters. When asked if that meant Obama had actually won the caucus, Plouffe replied, “We’ll leave that to you guys,” and “It’s very important numerically.”

Another Obama aide, Jeff Berman, who ran the campaign’s delegate selection, explained the convoluted process by which Obama apparently had won more delegates despite losing the state by a significant margin to Clinton.

What it all meant, Plouffe said, is that the candidates are destined for a "long and protracted” nominating process.  read more »

Hillary Clinton began one of her last appeals to Iowa voters by lifting Barack Obama’s signature line.

"We are fired up and we are ready to go," she said in the Starlight Building of Davenport’s Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds. Later in her speech, she talked about “hopeful, hopeful programs for the future.”

Whether the imitation was a direct expression of faltering confidence or merely a fatigue-induced slip-up, even some of her genuine admirers in the crowd couldn’t help but notice that things felt a little flat.

“It was kind of a sad contrast,” said Owen Rogal, a 59-year-old English teacher at St. Ambrose University, who had seen Obama speak that morning. “He’s got people walking around in ‘fired up’ t-shirts and I sort of felt he was my high school football coach. He elicited a much more visceral response.”  read more »

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe is conducting a conference call about outside spending by "shadowy groups" on behalf of John Edwards. He said, among other things, that Edwards "has obviously showed special skill in benefiting from outside spending and 527s."

During the call, a rival campaign sent out on oppo research memo about -- David Plouffe. The memo details work that the firm of Plouffe and David Axelrod did for an independent expenditure entity in the past.

UPDATE: Here’s a report from the conference call:  read more »