quote:

A long-time Democratic Party campaign consultant, David Plouffe is a partner at the party-aligned campaign consulting firm AKP&D Message and Media, which he joined in 2000
Plouffe resume illustrates just how active he’s been:

• He worked on Senator Tom Harkin’s 1990 re-election campaign and later worked as a state field director for Harkin’s unsuccessful 1992 Presidential campaign. 
  
• He managed Congressman John Olver’s first re-election bid in Western Massachusetts
  
• In 1994 Plouffe managed Delaware Attorney General Charles M. Oberly’s unsuccessful campaign against Senator William V. Roth Jr..
  
• In 1995 he worked as campaign director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. In 1996 Plouffe managed Bob Torricelli’s successful campaign to fill Bill Bradley’s seat in the United States Senate.
  
• From 1997 to 1998 Plouffe served as Democratic leader Richard Gephardt’s Deputy Chief of Staff.
  
• 
  In 1999-2000, as executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Plouffe led a national campaign that raised a record $95 million for House races across the country 

The Lang report, June 29, 2008, written by Michael Lang.

quote:

But in the eight years since Davis first managed a McCain campaign, his relationship with the senator has been a lucrative commodity. He and his lobbying firm, Davis Manafort, have earned handsome fees representing clients who need McCain's help in the Senate. He also has made money from a panoply of McCain-related entities, some of which have operated from the upscale riverfront office space that houses his lobbying shop.

In all, Davis, his firm and a company he helped start have earned at least $2.2 million in part through their close association with McCain, his campaign and his causes, according to a review of federal campaign, tax and lobbyist disclosure records.
But in the eight years since Davis first managed a McCain campaign, his relationship with the senator has been a lucrative commodity. He and his lobbying firm, Davis Manafort, have earned handsome fees representing clients who need McCain's help in the Senate. He also has made money from a panoply of McCain-related entities, some of which have operated from the upscale riverfront office space that houses his lobbying shop.

In all, Davis, his firm and a company he helped start have earned at least $2.2 million in part through their close association with McCain, his campaign and his causes, according to a review of federal campaign, tax and lobbyist disclosure records.

Davis is not the only McCain adviser to earn substantial income from McCain-affiliated endeavors both during and after his campaigns. Longtime fundraiser Carla Eudy earned $138,434 working for McCain's 2000 presidential bid. But she made far more -- $813,000 -- working for McCain's leadership committee, the Reform Institute, and another nonprofit McCain chaired, the International Republican Institute, tax records show. Some of the money has gone to her company. Trevor Potter, McCain's top lawyer, has brought in nearly $750,000 in fees for his law firms by working for such endeavors, as well as $949,000 in compensation over five years for the nonprofit he helped create, the Campaign Legal Center, which has defended in court the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, tax records show.

While the three serve on McCain's advisory team, Davis, 49, is now the candidate's campaign manager and point man on ethics. He wrote the conflict policy that spurred resignations a few weeks ago among McCain advisers, who also had roles as Washington lobbyists or were affiliated with outside groups.

A Navy brat who left the University of Alabama for the campaign trail, Davis once said his father warned him, "You can't make any money from doing politics." Davis did not listen. After learning the campaign business in Alabama and Mississippi, he became national field director for the College Republican National Committee during Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential bid.

When McCain started the Reform Institute in 2001 to promote campaign finance reform, he turned to Davis. Though still actively lobbying, Davis pulled in $120,000 as an institute consultant in 2002.

Davis brought with him other McCain insiders, and fundraising took off. In 2003, tax filings show, Davis earned $110,000 in fees, and in 2004 and 2005, while he served as president of the institute, his salary totaled $165,000. Tax forms said he worked five hours a week or "as needed. (Emphasis added.)

quote:

ORIGINAL: candystripper

David Plouffe 
 

quote:

ORIGINAL: candystripper
So McCain's campaign manager doesn't even hold an undergratuate degree, while Obama's campaign manager's credentials remain shrouded in mystery. 

quote:

Why is there so little known about the campaign staff of the presidential candidates?  Neither candidate provides any information about paid campaign staff -- not even names -- on their official web sites.

candystripper

quote:

ORIGINAL: candystripper

kittensol, I was hoping for a substative reply.
 
At least read the articles I cited and make up your own mind, then let us know what you think.
 
candystripper

quote:

What do you mean that Plouffe's credentials are shrouded in mystery? You even included his campaign history in your post?

DomKen

quote:

Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign has gone through its second shake-up in a year. Responding to Republican concerns that his candidacy was faltering, Mr. McCain put a veteran of President Bush’s 2004 campaign in charge of day-to-day operations and stepped away from a plan to have the campaign run by 11 regional managers, Mr. McCain’s aides said Wednesday.

The installation of Steve Schmidt, who worked closely with Karl Rove, at Mr. McCain’s headquarters represented a sharp diminishment of the responsibilities of Rick Davis, who has been Mr. McCain’s campaign manager since the last shake-up nearly a year ago.

Mr. McCain’s advisers said that Mr. Davis would continue to hold the position of campaign manager, but that Mr. Schmidt had taken over every major operation where Mr. McCain has shown signs of struggling: communications, scheduling and basic political strategy. Mr. McCain’s aides said Mr. Davis would focus now more on longer-term campaign efforts, including helping with the selection of a running mate and planning for the Republican National Convention, which is now just two months away.

Mr. Schmidt, who is 37, is one of the most intense, hard-driving figures in his party today: when he worked for Mr. Bush, his nickname in the campaign was “The Bullet,” a reference to the shape of his shaved head.

He has been at the center of some of the most politically significant Republican operations of the last 10 years. In working with Mr. Rove and Ken Mehlman, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, Mr. Schmidt has become immersed in the use of data-driven methods to find and turn out Republican voters.

He also ran the campaign’s war room, which was responsible for capitalizing on mistakes of opponents; Mr. McCain’s advisers said that one sign of Mr. Schmidt’s increasing influence in the campaign’s rapid response operation was the quickness with which it seized on a remark by Gen. Wesley K. Clark questioning whether Mr. McCain’s years in Vietnam gave him the experience he needed to be president.

Mr. Schmidt also ran the successful re-election campaign of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California Republican who won in a Democratic state by embracing moderate positions on issues like the environment and gay rights. Mr. Schmidt also served as communications director for the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, a job that presumably offered him the kind of district-by-district political education that could prove helpful in making decisions about where to send Mr. McCain and what he should talk about.