Obama General Election Campaign Organization, Pennsylvania
revised April 14, 2009  disclaimer

Obama for America  
"Change Begins in Pennsylvania" July 28, 2008 [PDF]
"One state, two closing strategies" Oct. 27, 2008
"Final Push" Oct. 31, 2008
State Director Craig Schirmer
(announced July 15, 2008) State director on Obama's North Carolina primary campaign (May 6), state director on his Wisconsin primary campaign (Feb. 19), GOTV director on his South Carolina primary campaign, and helped oversee and execute strategies in the other three early states (IA, NH, NV).  Los Angeles-based political consultant.  Did early work on California State Treasurer Phil Angelides' campaign for governor.  Campaign manager on Erskine Bowles' 2002 race for U.S. Senate in North Carolina (open Helms seat; lost to Elizabeth Dole).  Campaign manager on Brian Schweitzer's 2000 race for U.S. Senate in Montana (lost to Conrad Burns).  Statewide field director on Vice President Al Gore's New Hampshire primary campaign, 1999-2000.  State director on South Carolina Democrats' Coordinated Campaign in 1998.  Directed statewide field and grassroots operations for Clinton/Gore '96 in Florida.  Political aide to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in Washington and Boston.  Graduate of University of Wisconsin-Madison.
 

Communications Director Sean Smith
(announced July 15, 2008) Press secretary on Obama's Pennsylvania primary campaign, and earlier served as communications director on Obama's Arizona primary campaign.  Smith has worked in politics for more than 16 years.  Managed Sen. Joe Lieberman's 2006 primary campaign in Connecticut.  Served as Nevada communications director on Kerry-Edwards 2004.  Lived in San Diego for a couple of years, where he taught courses on media and politics at UC San Diego and was also a political analyst for NBC 7/39 in San Diego.  Smith has managed the communications strategies for dozens of political campaigns in Oregon and California.  He was a communications staffer on Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign in 1992.

Deputy Communications Director Allison Price
In 2006 Price served as spokeswoman on Kirsten Gillibrand's successful campaign for Congress in New York's 20th CD and earlier as spokeswoman on Joe Sestak's campaign in Pennsylvania's 7th CD.  Previously director of public affairs and special projects at Stonebridge International, a Washington, DC consulting and lobbying firm.

Stephanie Gidigbi - Legislative assistant to Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ) since the beginning of 2007. Graduate of Kean University with a degreee in political science and communication.
New Media Director Kevin Hartnett
After graduating from college in 2003, Hartnett joined Teach for America and taught sixth grade in the Bronx for two years; he has also backpacked around south Asia and worked as a personal assistant for a wealthy Philadelphian.
Deputy New Media Director/Videographer Brett Brownell
Photographer and documentary producer for Astorya Entertainment.  Brownell also created the World Wide Moment photography project (08.08.08).  Graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinema/T.V..


Campaign for Change
General Election Director Gabe Cohen
On leave from the Kenney Group, a Denver-based consulting firm.  During the primaries Cohen served as field director on the campaign in Colorado, state director on the campaign in Wyoming and state director in Montana. He has worked on numerous candidate and ballot initiative campaigns in both field management and public opinion research including, most recently, the Denver Preschool Matters campaign, the Denver Justice Center campaign, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, and the statewide ballot initiative Referendum I.  Prior to joining the Kenney Group, he worked for the Mellman Group in Washington DC.  Kenney holds a Masters degree in Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon.

Deputy General Election Director Justin Burchard
Previously worked on the Clinton campaign.

Field Director
 Paulette Aniskoff
GOTC director on Obama's Iowa caucus campaign.  Did political consulting in Manhattan (Aniskoff Consulting).  Experience includes work on Kirsten Gillibrand's successful 2006 congressional campaign in NY.
Deputy Field Director - Philadelphia
 Quinn Staudt

Deputy Field Director - Philadelphia Suburbs
 Nicole Price

Deputy Field Director - Central and NE
 Seth London

Deputy Field Director - West
 Patrick Lane

Regional Organization
81 offices around the state
Press Secretary
 Andrea Mead
Policy director at the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.  Deputy press secretary on Rendell for Governor, then communications director for the inaugural committee.  Law clerk in the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.  Graduate of the University of Pennsylvania; Temple University (2002).

 
Constituency Director
 Donnel Baird
A regional field director for the campaign in the South Carolina primary.  Graduate of Duke University, 2003.  From Stone Mountain, GA.

    Women's Vote Director
 Alexandra Traber
     Previously did women's outreach on Hillary Clinton for President.  Graduate of Georgetown University, 2007.
    Rural Vote Director
 Michael Wolf

    Latino and LGBT Vote Director
 Jesse Salazar
 
    Labor Vote Director
 Jessica Weinstein
    Political organizer for AFSCME starting in 2002.  Assistant political director for the NYC District Council of Carpenters.  B.A. in political science from Millersville University of Pennsylvania, 1998.
    Catholic Vote Director
 John Kelly

    Youth Vote Director
 Ashley Weigner

Women's Steering Committee (announced Sept. 15, 2008).
Veterans for Obama Steering Committee (announced Sept. 26, 2008)
Rural Steering Committee (announced Sept. 29, 2008)
Interfaith Steering Committee (announced Oct. 1, 2008)
Sportsmen's Steering Committee (announced Oct. 2, 2008)
Border States Director
 Paige Gebhardt
Previously worked on the Clinton campaign.


Scheduling Director
 Katrina Hartman
Hartman came to the campaign from the Public Liaison Office in the administration of Gov. Ed Rendell.  She served as constituency director on Rendell for Governor.


Voter File Manager
 Juliana Herman
Graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a double major in political science and American history.


Operations Director
 Julia Warren
During the primary campaign Warren served as operations manager on the campaign in Colorado, then deputy state director on the campaign in Wyoming.

Deputy Operations Director
 David Glick
Glick worked on the NH primary campaign based in Keene.  Graduate of Clark University, 2007.
Technology Director
 Rusty Hicks
(July 2008)  Director of administration at Native Affairs & Development Group.  Network operations manager for the Chickasaw Nation, 2001-04.  Systems engineer at W.P.S. Incorporated, 1999-2001.  Network administrator, Smokesignals Computer Company, 1998-99.  B.S. in computer science from East Central University, 2007.
GOTV Director
 Julie Andreeff Jensen
State director on Sen. Chris Dodd's Iowa caucus camapign starting in Oct. 2007; previously served as the campaign's national field director and initially as national deputy political director.  "In 2006, Andreeff Jensen ran regional political operations for Governor Mark Warner."  Attorney and lobbyist.  Andreeff worked on Kerry's Iowa caucus campaign starting in August 2003; after the caucuses she went on to North Dakota, Wisconsin and Hawaii.  She returned to Iowa early in the general election to serve as political director, but then was sent to Ohio, where she worked the final five months of the campaign, serving as NW Ohio field director and coordinating GOTV in Cuyahoga County.  Andreeff left her position as an associate at Powell Goldstein Frazer and Murphy LLP in Washington, DC to join Kerry's campaign.  Law degree from American University's Washington College of Law.  Worked as an aide to Sen. Kennedy.  B.A. in political science from American University.

GOTV Data
 Rufus Allen

GOTV Operations Lead
 Elizabeth Allen

Deputy GOTV Director - Philadelphia
 Jamie Linski

Deputy GOTV Director - Philadelphia Suburbs
 Robert Baren

Deputy GOTV Director - Central and NE
 Damian Murphy

Deputy GOTV Director - West
 Joshua Kriegman


Voter Protection Coordinator Eric Greenwald
During the 2004 presidential campaign, Greenwald worked with the DNC Voting Rights Institute as the deputy director for voter protection in Ohio.  Worked in production and editing of television and radio news   He has served as an Attorney Advisor with the Central Intelligence Agency's Office of General Counsel and in the National Security Law Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Litigator and an international trade lawyer with the law firms Steptoe & Johnson and Shearman & Sterling respectively.  Undergraduate degree from Yale, 1990.



Pennsylvania Democratic Party  |  300 N. 2nd Street, 8th Floor  |  Harrisburg, PA 17101  (717) 920-8470    >
Chair
 T.J. Rooney
(elected as chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party in March 2003 at the age of 38)  Principal of Tri-State Strategies LLC, a lobbying firm he co-founded after leaving the legislature.  Represented the 133rd District (Bethlehem, Lehigh Valley) in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives; elected in 1992 at the age of 27 and re-elected to seven consecutive terms.

Executive Director
 Mary Isenhour
(Isenhour took leave to serve as state director of Clinton's Pennsylvania primary campaign).
Political and Communications Director
 Abe Amorós
Previously senior deputy press secretary to Gov. Edward G. Rendell.  Amorós also served in local government as the Director of Community Development for the City of York and was the youngest and first Latino elected to serve on the City Council in 1991.  Degree in journalism from Penn State.

IT Manager
Shannon Bilger

Comptroller
 Vivian Guinan

Office Director
 Nick Jackal


DNC Regional Field Organizers
Western PA (Pittsburgh)
 Brigid Sullivan

Central PA
 Missy Stehr-Wood

Eastern PA (Allentown)
 Fadia Halma



Obama primary
2004 Kerry
Copyright © 2008  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action