Steve Schmidt
Steve Schmidt (born 1970) is an American campaign strategist and public relations worker for the U.S. Republican Party. He specializes in political "message development and strategy".[1] Schmidt was the senior campaign strategist and advisor to the 2008 presidential campaign of Senator John McCain.[2]
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[edit] Early life and education
Schmidt grew up in North Plainfield, New Jersey, and is an Eagle Scout, a tight end on the high school football team,[3] a two-year member of the National Honor Society, and senior class vice president. In 1988, he was one of two graduating seniors voted "most likely to succeed" by his classmates at North Plainfield High School.[4] He first handed out campaign materials for Democrat Bill Bradley's 1978 Senate campaign.[5]
Schmidt attended the University of Delaware from 1988 through the spring of 1993, majoring in political science.[6] He left three credits short of graduating because he did not pass a math course; Schmidt has said that he has been diagnosed with a learning disability that makes higher math difficult for him.[3] He joined the Delta Tau Delta fraternity,[4] was a member of the campus Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program, and did field work for Republican candidates in Delaware, sometimes wearing campaign buttons to class.[6]
[edit] Career
[edit] Early campaigns
In 1995, Steve Schmidt managed the unsuccessful campaign for Kentucky Attorney General of Will T. Scott, who is now Deputy Chief Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court. This Kentucky campaign's advertising strategy was featured in the second edition of George Magazine. In 1998, Schmidt ran California State Senator Tim Leslie's unsuccessful race for Lt. Governor of California.[7] Also that year, he was the Communications Director for California State Treasurer Matt Fong's unsuccessful campaign to unseat U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer.[8] In 1999, he was the Communications Director for Lamar Alexander's presidential run, leaving in June when the campaign reduced its senior staff.[9]
[edit] Washington, D.C.
By late 2000, Schmidt was communications director of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.[10][11]
In 2001, he was the spokesman of the National Republican Congressional Committee,[12] becoming the Communications Director by 2002. He left the NRCC in early 2003 to work for the lobbying firm Direct Impact Company.[13]
Schmidt joined the Bush administration as a Deputy Assistant to the President and Counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney. In 2004, he was a member of the senior strategic planning group, led by White House adviser Karl Rove, that ran President George W. Bush's re-election campaign; Schmidt oversaw the reelection "war room".[7] In 2005 and 2006, he was the White House strategist in charge of the U.S. Supreme Court nominations of Samuel A. Alito[14] and Chief Justice John Roberts.[7]
[edit] California
In 2006, Schmidt left the White House to become the campaign manager in the re-election campaign for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.[14] From there, he became a partner in Mercury Public Affairs, part of Fleishman-Hillard International Communications, in charge of Mercury's operations in California.[15]
[edit] 2008 McCain presidential campaign
On July 2, 2008, Schmidt was appointed to head up day to day operations of the McCain campaign in response to concerns that the campaign lacked coordination and a clear message. Rick Davis retained the formal title of "campaign manager".[16][17]
[edit] Press commentary
The New York Times described Schmidt's management as having transformed the McCain campaign into an "an elbows-out, risk-taking, disciplined machine," crediting him with aggressive responses to press criticism and creative methods of manipulating the news cycle.[18]
Time's Michael Scherer, in an opinion piece from September 15, 2008 relating to Schmidt's involvement with John McCain's presidential campaign stated that Schmidt, the "lord of outrage, has a long and prosperous career ahead of him."[19]
[edit] Stance on gay rights
Schmidt voiced his support for gay rights at meeting of the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican group. He said: "I just wanted to take a second to come by and pay my respect and the campaign's respect to your organization and to your group. Your organization is an important one in the fabric of our party." [20]
Schmidt said about his lesbian sister and her life partner: "On a personal level, my sister and her partner are an important part of my life and our children's life. I admire your group and your organization and I encourage you to keep fighting for what you believe in because the day is going to come."[20]
[edit] References
- ^ Chris Cillizza (December 20, 2006). "McCain Hires Another Bush Insider". Washington Post. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2006/12/mccain_hires_another_bushie.html.
- ^ Halloran, Liz (1 August 2008). "Republicans Press Celebrity Attack on Obama". US News and World Report. http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/campaign-2008/2008/08/01/republicans-press-celebrity-attack-on-obama.html. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
- ^ a b Lois Romano (August 21, 2008). "The Silver Bullet: Steve Schmidt Makes Sure His Candidate Knows Exactly What He Is Shooting For". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/20/AR2008082003960_pf.html.
- ^ a b "University of Delaware Delt plays pivotal role on McCain campaign staff". Home News Tribune and the Courier News. September 7, 2008. http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080907/NEWS/809070313/1098/POLITICS.
- ^ Marinucci, Carla (February 12, 2006). "Governor's team adds former Rove protege:Political 'artillery shell' joins re-election effort". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ a b Chris Barrish (September 15, 2008). "Another kingmaker has links to Delaware: McCain strategist was a student at UD". The News Journal. http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080915/NEWS02/809150337.
- ^ a b c Dan Morain and Bob Drogin (October 6, 2008). "Steve Schmidt: The driving force behind John McCain". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-schmidt6-2008oct06,0,7177006,full.story.
- ^ Chris Cillizza (September 7, 2008). "Sunday Reading: Steve Schmidt Examined". Washington Post. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/09/sunday_reading_steve_schmidt_e.html.
- ^ David Firestone (June 4, 1999). "Alexander Cuts Staff And Travel". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D03E3DD1639F937A35755C0A96F958260.
- ^ "Steve Schmidt biography". July 4, 2008. http://rncnyc2004.blogspot.com/2008/07/steve-schmidt-biography.html. Retrieved 2008-10-08.
- ^ Steve Lilienthal (November 27, 2000). "Republican congressional exec quits for private work". PR Week USA. http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/113798.
- ^ Philip Shenon (March 29, 2001). "While Senate Debates, It's Fund-Raising as Usual". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E07E5D9173FF93AA15750C0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all.
- ^ "National Republican Congressional Committee - People & Organizations: Party Lines". Campaigns & Elections magazine. May 2003. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2519/is_5_24/ai_102660514.[dead link]
- ^ a b Marinucci, Carla (February 12, 2006). "Governor's team adds former Rove protege". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/12/BAGTNH78UU1.DTL.
- ^ Jonathan Martin and Mike Allen (July 3, 2008). "A dose of discipline for McCain's campaign". The Politico. http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=E5FAF286-3048-5C12-0066483BBF8FB520.
- ^ Dan Balz and Michael D. Shear (2008-07-02). "McCain Puts New Strategist Atop Campaign". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/02/AR2008070203038.html. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
- ^ Martin, Jonathan (2008-07-02). "Schmidt takes control of day-to-day operation". Politico.com. http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0708/Schmidt_takes_control_of_daytoday_operation.html. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
- ^ Rutenberg, Jim; Adam Nagourney (2008-09-06). "An Adviser Molds a Tighter, More Aggressive McCain Campaign". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/us/politics/07schmidt.html. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
- ^ Scherer, Michael (September 15, 2008). "McCain's Outraged and Outrageous Campaign". Time.com. http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1841131,00.html. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
- ^ a b Eleveld, Kerry (September 4, 2008). "McCain's Top Strategist Addresses Log Cabin Republicans". advocate.com. http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid60725.asp. Retrieved 2008-09-29.
[edit] External links
- Bio at Mercury Public Affairs
- McCain Orders Shake-Up of His Campaign, New York Times, July 3, 2008
