2020 Dems race to find competent early-state staffers

by 24USATVNov. 12, 2018, 11:45 p.m. 285
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Sen. Cory Booker is personally calling political pros in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire to staff a 2020 campaign. Gov. John Hickenlooper is in touch with D.C. operatives about his search for a communications expert. Sen. Elizabeth Warren was interviewing campaign advisers even before Tuesday’s midterms.

With a sprawling field of expected candidates and a limited pool of high-caliber operatives, a sprint is on among 2020 Democratic hopefuls for campaign managers, strategists, finance directors and field directors who can run a presidential campaign.

“One of the realities is that there are not enough campaign staff to do the job that is required,” said Norm Sterzenbach, the former chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party. He joked that candidates would be wise to lock down staff before talking with their loved ones about whether to give up their lives to a presidential campaign — not the other way around.

That explains why, with the midterm elections not even a week in the history books, Democratic hopefuls have been scrambling to fill out their 2020 teams. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ aides, for instance, were reaching out to operatives coming off of successful midterm campaigns.

“They’re having phone calls on the staff level to gauge interest,” said a source within the Sanders camp.

Sen. Kamala Harris' aides have been in talks with Angelique Cannon about joining her finance team ahead of a likely 2020 run, a source familiar with the discussions said. Cannon worked for Senate Majority PAC during the 2018 cycle and for Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016.

Booker himself called staff prospects in three early states, including field organizers and senior officials involved in some of the state's marquee midterm campaigns, four people with knowledge of the calls told POLITICO. While Booker isn’t making offers yet, “he’s building a bridge” to potential aides, said one person with knowledge of the conversations.

Warren, who also dispensed staff to early states to help in the midterms, had spoken before Tuesday to potential top campaign strategists about coming on board, according to two sources with knowledge of the discussions.

All the activity does not necessarily translate to top talent signing contracts. It does, however, reflect efforts by likely candidates to build relationships for when the time comes.

There’s every reason to believe the competition will be steep, given early activity on the Democratic side already.

Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) announced his presidential bid and has staff on the ground in Iowa. Progressive billionaire Tom Steyer launched his NextGen youth voter engagement initiative in Iowa and this last cycle, also had two nieces working campaigns in the first presidential state. Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley also has dispatched staff to Iowa in an effort to try gain a leg-up in learning the political landscape there.

“The logistical challenge is if we have a field of 20 to 30 candidates, you know it’s not going to be easy to find 20 to 30 state directors or 20 to 30 communication directors,” said Jeff Link, a veteran Iowa Democratic strategist. “Or if you figure everybody had 50 field staff, it’s hard to find 1,500 people to have experience of any kind. You’re either going to bring in people from other states or you’re just going to bring people here who have never worked on a campaign before.”

“That’s the challenge,” Link added, and “that’s why I think there’s going to be a push early to find staff at all levels. Whether it be leadership, middle managers or even field organizers.”

One top prospect for campaign manager is off the market, at least for now: Anne Caprara, who ran the massive, record-spending campaign of Illinois Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker, was just named Pritzker’s chief of staff. Caprara, who oversaw some 200 campaign workers that made up a massive field operation, said candidates have to keep in mind this is a unique cycle for Democrats.

“The thing I worry about the most given how big I think the field is going to be in 2020, there are not enough senior-level people who have experience in this stuff in the party to go around for everybody,” Caprara said.

And that pool is winnowed even more when you exclude those who weren’t part of the last midterm cycle, she said.

“If you have not been out in the field doing this work for either this cycle or last, it’s going to be very hard to go around and campaign right now,” Caprara said. “The world of campaigns has changed. Since Barack Obama ran in 2012, since Hillary Clinton ran in 2016. If your experience on campaigns is from before the last two cycles, you’re going to struggle managing a presidential or staffing a presidential.”

What’s changed? Campaign personnel at all levels want to have more of a say in day-to-day operations. They’re active, even chatty, on social media. That could help candidates connect with voters over new mediums, but brings with it the risk of losing control over the campaign's messaging.

“The expectations that both voters and staff have of campaigns now are much different than they were two or four years ago,” Caprara said. “I feel like you have to have been through the wars at this point, to understand what the struggle is going to be for 2020.”

But one veteran hand offered potential 2020 candidates a word of warning before seriously shopping for staff: Get your own ducks in a row.

Former Democratic National Committee chairman and former President Bill Clinton strategist David Wilhelm said when he first sat down in a room with Clinton to talk, he was sold.

And the two never even talked about politics.

“He talked about where he wanted to take the country. He talked about where he wanted to take the party, policy issues that were important to him — and we just connected,” Wilhelm told POLITICO. “That had great appeal to me as a candidate for campaign manager, because I thought, ‘This guy has a real clue about why he’s running. This guy has a vision for where he wants to take the country.’”

“That thinking is really hard to do,” he said, “when a caucus is a week away.”

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