[9][15] She later modeled a New Hampshire bus trip off of John McCain's Straight Talk Express during his 2000 presidential campaign in which reporters were invited on board to travel and question the candidate. Because Pete is so Midwestern nice, I think it was helpful for him to have someone who could help kick him into another gear, and sort of push him to have the more aggressive instinct you need to break through in a presidential race. Schmuhl, his campaign manager, says a typical scene from the trail for the three of them is arriving 10 or 15 minutes early to the airport gate, and while he and Buttegiegwho hes known since 8th grade in Indianatake a moment to relax for a minute before boarding, Smith will head to the airport bar with her laptop and phone and begins texting and emailing reporters and clapping back to critics on social media. There are probably dozens of Mayor Petes out there across the country. Its an inherent conflict of interest. Meet the DNC dark horse: Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg is shaking up the race for Democratic chair, added Salon. It pisses me off, she adds, When candidates think they are too good for some of these outlets, or that it cheapens them to do TMZ or do a more entertainment-focused thing. She is most well known for being the senior advisor for Pete Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign and the director of rapid response for Obama's 2012 campaign. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Smiths Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story, out July 19, is an irreverent, intimate and honest look behind the curtain of modern political image-making including her own. It wasnt really until 2012 when I worked for Barack Obama that I did find a really strong female mentor in Stephanie Cutter and I learned so much about my job, so much about politics, so much about how to effectively communicate from Stephanie Cutter. Theres just no one who can do a TV interview like Pete Buttigieg. I see that being taken so far out of context. Most people do have corny sides to them. [39] Time and Politico included her on their lists of the best political Twitter feeds. I see Donald Trump win the White House, which like everyone else, Im flabbergasted. Wren: I want a window into how you advise candidates amid a crisis. Its just that I think with both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris that it would do the administration good to get out there a little bit more, and not to let the media and the Twitter dialogue get in your head, because most people dont speak like Pete Buttigieg in these beautiful, poetic, perfectly formed sentences. | William C. Lopez After leaving the eatery at around 12:30 a.m., Smith gave Spitzer a flirtatious look over her shoulder before the . It was Lis telling me I need to fire my campaign manager, that the guy is a fucking idiot. Part of it with him is the persona. 20172020 Pete Buttigieg presidential campaign, Pete Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign, Martin O'Malley 2016 presidential campaign, Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service, "On the Ground With Lis Smith, the Political Pro Who Invented 'Mayor Pete', "A Tabloid Bashing, and a Lost Job With the Mayor", "Virginia Politics Blog - McAuliffe Adds Press Secretary", "To Know Mayor Pete, Look at His Top Adviser's Underreported Past", "Mayor Pete Buttigieg Is Even Worse Than He Seems", "Knowing the Buttiverse: We're tracking 101 ex-staffers from Secretary Pete's 2020 campaign and where they are now", "The Women Running Presidential Campaigns Give Us a Behind-the-Scenes Look at Life on the Trail", "10 of the most powerful women who are running the 2020 presidential campaigns from behind the scenes", "Lis Smith | 2020 40 under 40 in Government and Politics", "GU Politics announces fall fellows to celebrate its fifth anniversary", "Andrew Cuomo's Smear Team: His Brother and Top Advisers, Transcripts Reveal", "The Moment Cuomo Adviser Lis Smith Says MSNBC Anchor Katy Tur Repeated Her 'Spin' On Air", "In crisis PR mode, Lis Smith told top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa to 'just have your fucking assistant text people' and 'this is insane' as sexual harassment scandal blew up", "The Michigan Democrat Who Could Solve Her Party's Identity Crisis", "Lis Smith dishes on love of political combat in new book", "Two New Memoirs Detail the Threats to American Democracy", "Confessions of a Political Swashbuckler", "Welcome to the new era of political memoir", "Any Given Tuesday: Lis Smith on Cuomo, Spitzer and a political life", "Opinion | Lis Smith's self-serving story about Andrew Cuomo", "Let's Hear From the Women Lis Smith Smeared", "Opinion | 'The G.O.P. In 2001, she graduated Bronxville High School. This is what day two looks like. It wasnt just the biggest names, people you know, Smith says. Wren: Theres a part of Pete that is a little wonky, a little square. He knows the importance of building up our bench. If Id thought things couldnt have gotten worse, I was wrong, she said. 8,310 Followers, 856 Following, 219 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Lis Smith (@lis__smith) Tim Miller, my friend, wrote a great book weeks ago, where he talks about the danger of getting sucked up in the game. Sign up for POLITICO Magazines email of the weeks best, delivered to your inbox every Friday morning. As a thirty-something mayor of a medium-size city, Buttigieg faced a credibility threshold with the national press. So what I try to do is to meet candidates where they are, and to help work with them on what their strengths are and not to erase the things in them that are quirky or not, but see if we can use them as assets. John Edwards comes to mind. The speed with which Buttegieg emerged has been astonishing, which happens to be the speed at which Smith works. This 35-Year-Old Mayor From Indiana Is Wowing National Democrats The New Republic declared. Political strategist Lis Smith isnt a married woman, though she may one day decide to tie the knot with a lucky somebody. And I talked about that in the book. James Devaney/Getty Images. Not to be cheesy, but it is one of my proudest accomplishments. She is practically shaking with excess energy. From the second I met Pete, I knew that there was something special about him. It was a slim path. Our meeting was part of a strategy, one run with surprising sophistication and efficacy for a candidate whose highest-profile gig so far is a local office in the fourth-biggest city in Indiana. I should know: Last October, I had my own intimate, off-the-record encounter with Mayor Pete. In that moment, in retrospect, it seems like Harris couldve ended Buttigiegs campaign. . And yet you signed on anyway. There may be nobody more central to Mayor Pete's media successbesides the candidate himself, and arguably his social-media-savvy husband, Chasten Buttigiegthan Smith, who serves as a. Between 1987 and 2013, Spitzer had been married to Silda Wall Spitzer. He weighed in after the Supreme Court decision. After McCaskill's win, she joined the 2007 Kentucky gubernatorial campaign of Bruce Lunsford and Greg Stumbo as traveling press secretary. Its sad, but our politics isnt built to deal with people who are reasonable. And maybe I shouldve gone to law school. And so, she says, she cant talk right now. Click here. Smith did not let anyone featured in the book read it ahead of time, not even former principals like Buttigieg or Cuomo, whom she levels in the book in the way her beloved Cincinnati Bengals new right tackle Lael Collins might decimate an opposing player. I worked in states like South Dakota, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia. Well, of course someone running for president would need to talk about it with me first, right? And when he was asked about that, he gave a really strong answer, and he took responsibility for things he did do in South Bend or things he didnt do in South Bend. She knew Axelrod from 2012, when she worked as director of rapid response for President Barack Obamas reelection effort. Wren: One of your legacies is the coaching tree, to use an apt football metaphor, that you left behind on the Pete campaign. I romanticize it. I think thats probably the biggest misconception about me. I had a beerhe stuck to waterand we talked about his political ambitions and the state of the Democratic Party and why Trump won. [13][14], Smith met Pete Buttigieg on the recommendations of Axelrod and OMalley when he was considering running for Democratic National Committee chair in 2017 and became a consultant for the campaign. The scandal would serve as a distraction for both Smith and mayor-elect de Blasio but the political crisis communications guru thought she could ride out the storm. New transcripts and . As someone who was a mayor who was on the ground, who knows how important this stuff is, hes a great messenger to send out there to these smaller media markets everywhere, where he can meet with the mayors, speak to them in their language, help make sure that theyre getting the resources they need. Liz Smith, the syndicated gossip columnist who chronicled the lives of New York's rich and famous with such skill she became known as the "Dame of Dish . Pete Buttigieg emerges as Democratic rock star proclaimed Business Insider during the race. Pete was completely different. The private Terry is a lot more low-key, and lot more humble, a lot more thoughtful. I knew from the beginningthat our relationship would be a big tabloid story when it became public. Illegal workers for Hamptons' rich and famous living in sq 11-year-old reads aloud from 'pornographic' book he checked out from library at school board meeting, Influencer refuses to switch business class seats so family can sit together, Ousted Chicago mayor blames loss on racism, gender but not her tepid response to crime, It's insane that NYers can use but not buy pepper spray for self-defense: Change this now, Hey, Bret Easton Ellis: You don't have the right to complain about NYC, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle confirm they were asked to vacate Frogmore Cottage, Jena Malone was sexually assaulted while filming final Hunger Games movie, Score big savings on Kate Middleton-loved Longchamp bags right now, Good luck 'worming' your way out of this one, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry have first night out since bombshell 'Spare' released. [16] Business Insider considered her to be one of the 10 most powerful women running the 2020 presidential campaigns. Chuck Kennedy/PFA. He didnt feel the need to go out there and be the coolest guy or the hippest guy on stage. She has also directed communications and strategy for a number of other gubernatorial, mayoral and congressional campaigns. Jason Bergman for POLITICO. I know youre asking it in good faith, but I am declining to answer it in good faith. Market Realist is a registered trademark. I had gone through this awful breakup [with former New York Gov. People read about my personal life in Page Six, and they think Im going to be sort of an out-there type of person that is attention seeking and all of that. POLITICO Weekend delivers gripping reads, smart analysis and a bit of high-minded fun. If there is one thing that makes Smith unique, its not her knowledge of great apes or her particular skill eviscerating her opponents on Twitter; Its that her skin was toughened by a stretch of time in the rawest, roughest media environment of all, the NYC tabloid scrum. Why do I fucking love John McCain? Read on for more details on the relationship that cost Smith her job, who she has dated since, and what shes up to these days. The Buttigiegs announced last month that they were engaged in the adoption process. Maybe somewhere an 18-year-old girl like me can pick up my book and can learn something from it about how you work with candidates, how you work with the media, how you deal with crisis, and also learn from my mistakes. Smith: Yeah. Smith shot down a Post story claiming Sptizer was spotted kissing and sucking her toes while she was topless in a hot tub at a resort there. The good candidates have humility. Chuck Kennedy/PFA. Maybe theres still time for me to choose a new life path because I felt extremely disillusioned. And so much of my book is about the power of belief and the element of belief that it takes to succeed in professional football, in politics, and hes the one who brought that belief back for me, and brought my love my pure love of politics back for me. Smith has spent much of her career as a political strategist working for prominent men such as Pete Buttigieg, Barack Obama, and the now disgraced Andrew Cuomo. [17] She has been included in Fortune's 40 Under 40 in Government and Politics,[18] and Crain's list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in New York. If Im going to be honest about other people and their shortcomings, its really important for me to be honest about myself and my own shortcomings, Smith told me. And its going to be really important to have a woman sort of leading the charge on these issues, who is able to really empathize with the despair a lot of women are feeling. Most people do have nerdy sides to them. I was also reckless. Hes someone I ask for advice. You get a sense of the news, what is going to get picked up, she said, reaching into her bag for her copy of the Post, which she said she was saving for Buttigieg. By ERIN BANCO, GARRETT M. GRAFF, LARA SELIGMAN, NAHAL TOOSI and ALEXANDER WARD. I want Republicans to read this book. News has confirmed her daughter Riley Keough welcomed a daughter with husband Ben Smith-Petersen, who mentioned their child at the singer's. And when I began asking around to figure out who was behind that strategy, the same name kept coming up: Lis Smith. Everyone thought I was crazy. On a cornier side, I think because he is such a good person, he made a lot of us better people throughout, because politics can be sort of a nasty business. It gives me so much joy when I sit down for a Zoom with Mallory McMorrow which is supposed to be 15 minutes and it turns into two hours, and I get goosebumps again. [40], Smith dated Missouri politician Jeff Smith after meeting him at Dartmouth and handled some of his publicity during his campaign. which Politico Magazine excerpted last week. He was attempting a comeback by running for the modest job of New York City comptroller, and when the vote came in, he pulled in a respectable 48 percent, even though the entire citys political establishment was against him. This story has been shared 102,835 times. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Its a super-aggressive thing to do. Lis Smith, a Democratic communications operative, has written a memoir that pulls back the curtain on how campaigns are won and lost. Were just not looking for them. And that was our media strategy. | Scott Olson/Getty Images, Lis has an insurgent mentality, said Axelrod, a top aide for both of President Obamas campaigns. By. "[29] Lloyd Green, writing for The Guardian, called it "breezy and informative. Now that they have achieved liftoff, as it were, Smith is preparing for the next part of the campaign. Smith: We check in here and there. Because even power needs a day off. By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or updates from POLITICO and you agree to our privacy policy and terms of service. But they did teach me the importance of always making sure that candidates are reflecting the values of their voters. Wren: Fair enough. He was also married. `Jesus, you always keep it interesting.'. [20] She was a senior advisor on Corey Johnson's 2021 campaign for New York City Comptroller, and raised $3.5 million in funds for a PAC supporting Andrew Yang's 2021 mayoral campaign. A lot of people people whose opinion you respect told you that you were nuts when you chose to work for Pete. Wren: Youre a very competitive person. And I agree with him that you cant get sucked up in the game. When I met him was right after Trump won the election, and Democrats are running around with their hair on fire for good reason. Why would a Pete Buttigieg hire me? In the past several months, Buttigieg has been not just all over cable and in the newspapers, but in Our Daily Planet, an environmental morning newsletter with just over 5,000 Twitter followers; in a financial planning podcast called Pete the Planner; and on West Wing Weekly, the obsessive episode-by-episode podcast breakdown of The West Wing. It went on like this, just cursing up a blue streak for like two minutes., The aides mistake, Smith recalls, had to do with email: He failed to BCC reporters on a news release he blasted out. Smith a Bengals fan believes quarterback Joe Burrow is a great leader with a clear social conscience, and she wouldnt rule out the possibility of him having a political career. I want him on everything, she told me. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. Wren: When you started working with Aftab Pureval did Pete feel like you were two-timing him with another Midwestern mayor of a river city with a funny name? I really did feel he treated me as an equal. I could bring out a little bit more of a killer instinct [in] him, but he could bring out sort of a gentler, more thoughtful side of me that was mutually beneficial to the campaign. They know who they are and will not let consultants, pundits, whoever, change them. Petes hitting at this moment in part because of the legwork they did. And if people like it they like it, and if they dont they were probably never going to vote for you anyway.. I think thats always been part of Joe Bidens appeal. So I would obviously advise him not to respond. There were, Smith guesses, probably 150 such meetings with the national press corps, and when he traveled across the country, speaking to local county party dinners and fundraisers across the Midwest and Great Plains, they would make time for one-on-ones with the local political press there, too. And if I can help you with my experience, my profile, my contacts, to do that, then I will do it. Wren: You write pretty transparently in the book about times youve been fooled by a candidate. Youve got this hard-nosed New York-style political operative and this friendly Hoosier mayor, he said. This is an election where the women voters are going to be really important. [2], She worked on Tom Daschle's 2004 Senate campaign as a field organizer. He looked white as a ghost, didnt say anything, just nodding along. Miller is darkly. ), Smith quipped. Because he was a badass. We were on the bus in New Hampshire the week we were playing each other and furiously checking our lineups. Her father was a partner at the white-shoe law firm Sidley Austin. She ran his campaign publicly by courting the national political press, a technique she further honed during Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign. The 10 most powerful women running the 2020 presidential campaigns Mayor Petes out there and be the with... 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