Debbie Does Damage

'Jewbags' Facebook controversy pitted DWS against Chicago, according to Politico e-book

 

AP Images

     

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
August 20, 2012 12:40 pm

Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been “marginalized” by the Obama campaign, according to Glenn Thrush in the e-book “Obama’s Last Stand: Playbook 2012”–driven in part by an aide’s controversial Facebook photos, and internal polling that shows Wasserman Schultz is the campaign’s least effective surrogate.

The campaign has had difficulties with Wasserman Schultz since her inception as chair, reports Thrush.

But Wasserman Schultz’s most public scrap with the Obama campaign came after a Free Beacon report on photographs posted on Facebook by one of her aides, according to Thrush:

From the start, Wasserman Schultz grated on Chicago. She insisted the DNC hire a handful of her top congressional aides. While she was a tough and effective cable warrior and a serious fundraiser, she tended to do better on MSNBC and struck too harsh a partisan tone when she crossed over to the Sunday shows, they thought.

By the spring, the simmering tensions briefly boiled into public view. GOP researchers discovered an old post from Wasserman Schultz’s liaison to the Jewish community, Danielle “Dani” Gilbert, in which she joking referred to herself as a “Jewbag.”

Obama’s aides demanded the chairwoman immediate fire Gilbert, people close to the situation told me. But Wasserman Schultz defended the twentysomething staffer, who turned out to be the daughter of a top Democratic donor and Florida power broker, Mark Gilbert. She won the skirmish but lost the war–eventually becoming marginalized. Her fate, to be fair, has been shared by many a party chief in an election year, but by spring some in Obama’s orbit were openly speculating about how much better things might have been under Strickland or Villaraigosa. No sooner had that speculation died down than Wasserman Schultz called Chicago to ask why her national TV appearances, especially on Sunday shows, had dropped off.

Thrush goes on to report that internal focus group paid for by the Obama campaign showed Wasserman Schultz ranked last of all Obama surrogates in effectiveness.

Robert Gibbs ranked first among the group, with deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter and campaign spokesperson Jen Psaki falling in at second and third.

The Free Beacon first reported on the Gilbert controversy in April.

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Kerry Picket - El Presidente camp - We are intentionally limiting crowd size at rallies

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By Kerry Picket - The Washington Times

August 18, 2012, 09:09PM

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The presumptive GOP presidential and vice presidential nominees Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan are attracting  thousands of supporters to their campaign rallies since Mr. Romney named Mr. Ryan to the bottom of the ticket. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has taken notice of the massive crowds at the Romney Ryan stump speeches and sent out an urgent e-mail to their supporters, reported The Washington Examiner last week. 

However, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are not drawing the crowds they once could. The New York Times reported that the Obama campaign said that it is intentionally limiting crowd size at their events because of security and cost:

“We have plenty of time for big rallies,” a campaign spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said between the rallies on Thursday. “Our focus right now is on exciting our supporters and winning over undecided voters and the smaller and medium-size events are the best venue to accomplish that because the president can closely engage with the crowd."

Big rallies are expensive, especially given the logistical and security challenges for a president as opposed to a mere United States senator. And Obama campaign operatives, both at the Chicago headquarters and in swing states where Mr. Obama recently has stumped, say the campaign intentionally limits crowds by restricting tickets. The reason is to allow the president to better connect with supporters, aides say.

The Romney campaign told the New York Times that the smaller turnout at Obama events shows there is an “enthusiasm gap” for Obama. 

A Romney spokeswoman, Andrea Saul, provided photos of three packed events: 5,000 at a Memorial Day weekend rally in San Diego, 2,200 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, in March, and 4,200 in Denver in mid-February. More typical appearances draw 300 to 500 people. An event in Ohio three weeks ago attracted about 400, with about 100 more in an overflow room. Last week in Colorado, Mr. Romney spoke to about 200 people at a school in Basalt. 

 Over 10,000 fellow Wisconsinites cheered on Rep. Ryan almost a week ago and thousands welcomed him on Saturday to the Florida retirement community known as The Villages.

Kerry Picket

Kerry Picket, Opinion Blogger/Editor of The Watercooler, was formerly associate producer for the Media Research Center, a content producer for Robin Quivers of "The Howard Stern Show" on Sirius satellite radio and a production assistant and copy writer at MTV.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2012/aug/18/obama-camp-we-are-intentionally-limiting-crowd-siz/

h/t MK