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Looking under the hoods of the Georgia gubernatorial campaigns

June 7, 2010 — It may still be possible to win a political race without experienced consultants and a professional staff, but for the most part, no. The days in which campaigns relied almost entirely on dedicated supporters and a small team of friends with varying degrees of political experience are about as rare as a stump speech bellowed from a bunting-draped flatbed truck in the open air of a steamy Southern summer.

Modern campaigns are guided by teams of professional message crafters, pollsters, ad designers, ad buyers, fundraising specialists, grassroots organizers, strategists and others who make their livings from campaign to campaign. They can’t turn a bad candidate into a winner on election night, but they can help good candidates rack up extra percentage points, perhaps even the winning margin.

With that in mind, it may be instructive to take a look at the consultants and top staffers who are working in the major gubernatorial campaigns in Georgia this year. This isn’t a foolproof way to handicap the campaigns. With so many variables, there is no single key indicator. But it is one place to start in attempting to form a broader picture.

So here is a look under the hood at the Republican and Democratic campaigns which consistently rate in the top four in most polls.

Nathan Deal

Campaign Manager: Chris Riley
Riley was Deal’s chief of staff in the congressional office and has been associated with Deal since 1993.

Media Consultant: Sonny Scott, Riding Tide Media Group
The Franklin, Tennessee-based group has done several Georgia races, including Casey Cagle’s 2006 campaign, and has done work for Congressmen Lynn Westmoreland and Phil Gingrey.

Polling: John McLaughlin
Well-known pollster has worked for candidates around the country. Past clients have included Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steve Forbes, former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, 14 current and former U.S. Senators and 25 members of Congress.

Mail and Multi-Media: The Stoneridge Group
This group has performed work in many Georgia races.

Media spokesman: Brian Robinson
Robinson is on loan from Lynn Westmoreland’s congressional office.

Other Notables: Philip Wilheit, chairman of the board of Gainesville Bank, is chairman. Wesley Smith of Ringgold, chairman and CEO of Northwest Georgia Bank Group, is treasurer.

Karen Handel

Campaign Manager: Marty Ryall
Ryall, a former chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party, was campaign manager for Elizabeth Dole's Senate campaign and political director for her presidential campaign, and managed Handel’s race for Secretary of State. He also was campaign manager for Paul Coverdell’s re-election in 1998.

General Consultant: Rob Simms
Sims was deputy Secretary of State under Handel and was general consultant in her Secretary of State race. He was political director for Mike Bowers’ gubernatorial bid.

Consultant and Campaign Spokesman: Dan McLagan
McLagan was Gov. Sonny Perdue’s spokesman before leaving to form his own company. He also was Perdue’s communications director in the 2002 campaign. He was press secretary for Ollie North in 1994, for Lamar Alexander in 1996 and for the Rick Lazio campaign and the John McCain campaigns in 2000.

Media: Fred Davis
He’s worked all over the country but is best remembered in Georgia for the rat ad of 2002, produced for the Perdue campaign.

Polling: Whit Ayres
Formerly of Atlanta, now based in the D.C. area.

Other Notables: Fred Cooper is chairman of the campaign. Eric Tanenblatt is finance chairman. David Davis, former chief of staff to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and former senior vice president of ChoicePoint, is a senior policy advisor.

Eric Johnson

Campaign Manager: Ben Fry
Fry is a former executive director of the Georgia Republican Party. Prior to that, he was Gov. Sonny Perdue’s travelling aide.

General Consultant: Derrick Dickey
Dickey was deputy communications director for Gov. Sonny Perdue for four years and worked in both his 2002 and 2006 campaigns. He was communications director and deputy manager for the re-elect campaign. He formed his own company after the race and was part of the team brought in to help manage the runoff when Saxby Chambliss found himself in a weaker position than anyone expected.

Polling: Glen Bolger, Public Opinion Strategies
The Alexandria, Va., firm has also polled in Georgia for Perdue and for Chambliss, along with Congressmen Tom Price and Jack Kingston.

Creative: Bill Greener of Greener & Hook
The Arlington, Va., firm has also done messaging for the Republican National Committee, the Republican Governors Association and the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Direct Mail: Marty Klein
Klein is a former executive director of the Georgia Republican Party and worked in the 2002 Perdue campaign and on the transition team.

Other notables: Steven Green, chairman of the Georgia Ports Authority, is campaign chairman. Jamie Reynolds and Virgil Williams are finance co-chairmen.

John Oxendine

Chief Strategist: Jeff Roe
Roe, who founded Axiom Strategies in Kansas City, ran the eight election and re-election campaigns of Missouri Congressman Sam Graves. He has consulted on various congressional and statewide campaigns, and ran the turnout effort for Mike Huckabee’s campaign in early primary and Super Tuesday states, including Georgia.

Campaign Manager and Press Spokesman: Stephen Puetz (pronounced “Pitts”)
He most recently was political director for Tom Foley in the Connecticut governor’s race. He was the California field director for Mitt Romney.

Media Consultant: Paul Curcio
Curcio’s campaigns include those of U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss, Bill Frist, Bob Corker and John McCain. He was National Republican Senatorial Committee political director in 1992 and 1994.

Polling: Chris Wilson
Wilson started Wilson Research Strategies in 1998. Wilson served as Executive Director of the Texas Republican Party when George W. Bush was president, working directly for Karl Rove.

DEMOCRATS

Thurbert Baker:

Campaign Manager: Jeff DiSantis
DiSantis was executive director of the Democratic Party of Georgia from early 2003 to early 2007. He managed Baker’s campaign for attorney general, worked in Lewis Massey’s gubernatorial campaign, and worked in Sen. Zell Miller’s Senate office.

Deputy Campaign Manager and Field Director: Nadine Thomas
She is a former state senator

Media Consultant: Jim Andrews
Andrews managed the Miller re-election campaign in 1994. “Brilliant and ornery,” was the way Miller described him in one of his subsequent books. He also managed the Massey campaign and has done other work around the country.

Polling: Harrison Hickman
Hickman, a partner in Global Strategy Group, has had a long working relationship with John Edwards and also has polled for Al Gore and Bob Kerry. He also polled for former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn.

Research Director: Edward Chapman
Chapman worked for the state Democratic Party as an opposition researcher.

Roy Barnes

Campaign Manager and Press Spokesman: Chris Carpenter
During the Barnes administration, Carpenter was a top member of the executive staff as a lawyer tasked in part with overseeing the governor’s numerous legislative initiatives.

Media Ads: Raymond Strother
He packs a lot of imagery into his ads, and worked for the Barnes campaign in 1998 and 2002.

Media Buying: LUC Media
Headed by the governor’s former chief aide, Bobby Kahn, the firm has become one of the biggest buyers of media time for Democratic campaigns throughout the country. It did all of John Edwards’ buying, for example.

Polling: Hamilton Campaigns
The firm also polled for Barnes in 1998 and 2002.

DuBose Porter

Press Spokesman: Matt Caseman
Caseman began working for the Georgia General Assembly in 1994 and in 1999 was named director of the House Information Office. After leaving that post, he formed Caseman and Associates and has been a spokesman for the House Democratic Caucus.

We will have to wait a bit to find out about the other staffers and consultants.

Porter told us this: “We have put together a very unique team to manage and direct our campaign. The manager I have hired has run, basically, underdog campaigns. We have one of the best videographers I’ve ever worked with and one of the best old-school radio guys we have. We have someone that has some of the best old-school newspaper graphic experience. For me to talk about who they are would be showing my hand and my strategy, which will be revealed over the next five weeks. I’ll be glad to explain when we win and everybody will understand and say, ‘Wow, what an amazing group of folks.’ I have a major policy person, folks who have interned with me, folks travelling with me. The whole team I want to hold very close because of the uniqueness of the campaign.”

When the most recent disclosure reports were filed in March, Porter had no listed expenditures for those folks, so those documents provide no additional insight.

David Poythress

Campaign Manager and Press Spokesman: Wendy Davis
Davis has been campaigning professionally since 1989, mostly in Georgia. She did Max Cleland’s last re-election campaign as Secretary of State and the Sanford Bishop re-election in 1996. She also has done a number of local legislative races.

Deputy Communications Director: Trevor Southerland
A college student, he is a specialist in social media. He was communications director for Georgia Students for Obama.

Political Director: Robert Finch
A one-time candidate, himself (he ran for the 12th congressional district in 2002), he has worked in the past for Congressman Sanford Bishop and on the state Senate campaigns of Mark Taylor.

Media Consultant: Ben Chao
The Nashville-based Chao handles political and corporate messaging. His clients have been as varied as Gov. Bill Richardson and Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Polling: Andrew Myers
Has had clients across the country.