Even TMZ got in the act LEO DICAPRIO OFFERED BUTTIGIEG HELP DURING 2020 RUN, trumpeted the chyron. Smith: You never say never. Cuomoresigned last August amid claims of sexual harassment and misconduct. Riley Keough's husband, Ben Smith-Petersen, revealed the couple welcomed a baby girl while he gave a speech on behalf of his wife during a memorial service for Lisa Marie Presley on Sunday By. [6] She became communications director for the Democratic Governors Association in 2011. 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. It felt like we connectedwe went over our allotted time, and I had another beer, and by the end I had shifted from very skeptical to only moderately skeptical, just maybe seeing a lane for his candidacy. All Rights Reserved. Weaver says that recreating that atmosphere in the days of Twitter, and in the days when the national political press corps has metastasized into a constantly hungry and multiheaded beast equipped with cell phones, is 10 times harder than when his team tried it in 1999. [2][9] She later worked as the spokeswoman for Bill de Blasio's mayoral run in 2013. The most important thing is theres no one way to be a Democrat no matter what any of these lefty groups in Washington say, and we cannot expect candidates in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and Ohio and Arizona and North Carolina to check off every box on the progressive party purity test. And so my advice would just be, get out there more, especially with Kamala, go out there more. She advised a couple of governors still left in office, and started taking on more nonprofit clients. Shes had some very forceful moments as vice president. Lis Smith (born October 15, 1982) is an American political strategist affiliated with the Democratic Party. In the car, wed go back and forth on random trivia, and pulling up things on Google. Dont miss it! This includes with her own boss. That even in the age of Twitter, that especially in the age of Twitter, people dont really care about gaffes. This sign-up form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Wed gone down to Jamaica to get away from tabloid drama, not actively court it, Smith said. Gripping reads, smart analysis and a bit of high-minded fun. The photographer had captured Eliot and me exchanging loving looks as wed returned from a late-night dinner at a restaurant on my block.. A report by New York Attorney General Letitia James showed that Smith was working behind the scenes to protect Cuomo from the allegations. Letting Pete be Pete. She knew Axelrod from 2012, when she worked as director of rapid response for President Barack Obamas reelection effort. It was in 2013, the time when Smith was working for the de Blasio campaign, that she began dating Eliot Spitzer. They have one man to thank. Not long after that, at the presidential primary debate in Miami on June 27, you take us inside the greenroom backstage as you watched Pete get asked about this incredibly fraught moment. Wren: You mentioned that some people might view you as radioactive. Everyone thought I was crazy. Smith: Yes. Im just going to leave it there because I thought it was funny. Photo: amyandstuart.com@AmyandStuart. With Bill de Blasio, that was a different situation. Tommy McArdle. Lis Smith, the mayor-elect's spokeswoman during the homestretch of his campaign and for his transition to Gracie Mansion, is in a relationship with Spitzer, the hooker-scandal-disgraced ex . 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. Hes someone I ask for advice. I figured he was special and it couldnt hurt if everybody knows who he is.. It was by no means an obvious career move for Smith. Smith, standing behind Buttigieg as he campaigns at various events in New York this April. She then switched to de Blasios general election campaign for mayor. He was an incredible leader at Louisiana State University someone that team could rally around, and such a maturity to him. We knew the McKinsey stuff would be it, but he was bound by an NDA. Your Bengals fandom and their Super Bowl run is a part of the book. I worked in states like South Dakota, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia. This story has been shared 102,835 times. 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. [31][32], Smith is also known for her commentary and analysis of United States politics. After the fundraiser, Buttigieg is going to rush off to 30 Rock to do Maddow, then in the morning New Day on CNN, and then fly to Iowa, then do Morning Joe when hes back. She dated former Missouri State Sen. Jeff Smith from 2005 to 2009, before he was locked up in a federal pen for obstruction after a probe of the state's 2004 election. 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. I really did feel he treated me as an equal. James Devaney/Getty Images. A New York Post photographer had been surreptitiously posted outside my SoHo walkup apartment. I was also reckless. Political strategist Lis Smith reveals in her new book how The Post exposed that she was dating prostitution-loving former Gov. This 35-Year-Old Mayor From Indiana Is Wowing National Democrats The New Republic declared. 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. How hard-chargingNew Yorkoperative Lis Smith helpedturn an obscure Indianamayorinto a national name. Eliot Spitzer while working for incoming Mayor Bill de Blasio. [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. Click here. By. But Joe Biden is president today, and Kamala Harris is his vice president. Through the DNC race and afterward, Smith treated the national political press like it was another constituency that needed to be courted. Smith: Thats hilarious. From her days as a college intern for John Edwards to her own brush with the New York tabloids, the book traces her entertaining path to the height of the American political consultant class. He didnt feel the need to go out there and be the coolest guy or the hippest guy on stage. Now she has carefully orchestrated her own books launch doling out choice anecdotes to her beloved New York tabloids: De Blasio didnt trust NYPD security to keep secrets, ex-aide Lis Smith claims, blared one headline, which elicited an on the record statement from De Blasio himself. Why do I fucking love John McCain? It was total bullst. The two of us talked this week about Buttigiegs political future, whether Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow could jump into politics, and the ingredients of a good political candidate. The problem with a lot of people, not just candidates, but anyone in life who is caught up in a crisis is that they react. Wren: Based on how you characterized the vice presidency, would you ever counsel the transportation secretary, regardless of what year it is, against taking the vice presidency? It has been my passion since I was nine years old, which sounds sick. Smith: I think its been great. And I agree with him that you cant get sucked up in the game. Now more than ever, people are seeing politics touch everything in our lives. He hung up and looked at me in horror, and then my phone started ringing. [44] Smith plays the violin.[44]. That is not the typical relationship of adviser to political principal, but typical is not a word people use about Smith. In real life, I have a really close-knit family. The Democratic bench isnt going to be found on Meet the Press every Sunday, and its not going to be found on cable news. Other candidates, they dont need to do it. Smith: One of the things Ive learned over my time in politics is that youve got to let your candidates be themselves. This is an election where the women voters are going to be really important. I know that the media loves to pick up on a gaffe here or there but the more comfortable you are, the more interviews you do, the more comfortable you get in front of the camera, and the less little slip ups matter. Lis Smith, Buttigieg's top communications adviser . I would do that for free.). Whitney Whitis. And especially on far-leftist DSA Twitter, Im basically just depicted as a mix between Lady Macbeth and Rasputin in a wig, that Im like some soulless political operatives. How badly," she asks me, are you trying to fuck me over right now?, Interactive: The Lo-Fi Voices That Speak for AmericaBy M. Scott Mahaskey and Zack Stanton. It was a slim path. Neither Eliot nor I was gonna win a gold medal in the not reckless competition at the Olympics. I think I am impressive because I am a violinist and I went to Dartmouth and I speak French and have traveled all over the world and, I dont know, I know a lot about great apes, she says. You never get in a fight with someone whos trying to promote a book. Lis Smith on Pete Buttigieg's campaign bus during a four day tour of Iowa, September 23, 2019. Its about getting to know people and them getting to know you, Buttigieg says when I see him after the Brooklyn fundraiser, where he at least pretends to recall our earlier meeting and what we talked about. Eliot Spitzer. God, you fucked that up. But to me it was more just revealing [the] nature of the sliding doors of campaigns, and I think thats what youre getting at. Smith has made a name for herself in recent months by working with a new crop of candidates in the middle of the country, including Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (center). Smith ended up dropping most of her other clients, politicians and nonprofits alike. Maybe a story that would be 80-20 bad you can get down to 60-40 bad, and that little bit is worth it.. Pete and I, you can probably tell are pretty laid-back, pretty low-key, I guess what you would call pretty Midwestern, said Mike Schmuhl, Buttigiegs campaign manager, who sounds like the host of a classical-music radio station who just returned from a yoga retreat. Win or lose, she's turned an unknown into a serious . Critics of the IDC have questioned Smith's loyalty to the implementation of progressive policies and candidates. I know of one person in particular who said you were making a catastrophic career mistake working for a total nobody. She is the most competitive person I have ever known.. George Bush had Karl Rove; Bill Clinton had James Carville. But it was one of those moments where I had to go with my gut. He weighed in after the Supreme Court decision. Can I tell you something very off the record, she texts. Smith: Joey Burrow is an incredible leader. And you had Democrats out there saying, when they go low, we kick them in the face, and engaging in all this over-the-top rhetoric. What is Lis Smiths secret sauce? They know who they are and will not let consultants, pundits, whoever, change them. Rather than going after Pete, Harris trained her fire on Biden.. Its a local-politics mentality to find the people that are going to be telling this story, and if nothing else, making sure they have a real understanding of who you are. Smith: Dont make me praise Chris Meagher. It was younger reporters, super-hungry reporters that really know how to use Twitter, people who can then go to a cocktail party and tell their friends they had a beer with this guy Pete Buttigieg three hours from now. She became obsessed with the idea of working for him, then became further obsessed when she actually met him, and developed the notion that once people got to meet him they would start to like him. Spitzer, at the time, was attempting to regain his footing in politics after resigning from his position in 2008. After O'Malley's campaign, she advised several nonprofit organizations, and incumbent governors such as Montana governor Steve Bullock. Democratic Political strategist and former Pete Buttigieg 2020 campaign advisor Lis Smith trashed former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio during a Monday interview with MSNBC host Nicolle. 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. Smith: I dont know, because I think one thing we saw was that he was pretty good about handling stuff. And he is as squeaky clean behind the scenes as he is in front of the camera. My end goalsbeing able to stay in New York with Eliot and serve as the New York City mayors press secretarywere in sight. ET Political strategist Lis Smith isn't a married woman, though she may one day decide to tie the knot with a lucky somebody. Even in decline, AM radio matters more than you might think. A photo and audio tour of the hosts driving the conversation. Maybe they wont focus on the former reigning champion [Spitzer], for once. A Democratic candidate in West Virginia is going to look very different from a Democratic candidate in New York, and we cant impose this one-size-fits-all thing and think that the Democratic Party is going to be a majority party. Wren: How is Harris doing as a communicator? [24], Smith authored the 2022 book Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story. From the second I met Pete, I knew that there was something special about him. Wren: Lets talk about another Cincinnatian: Joey Burrow, your Bengals politically outspoken quarterback. He has a clear social consciousness to him that you dont see in a lot of professional athletes. I consider him a friend . Were just not looking for them. Shes a Black half-South-Indian woman. [8], In 2012, she became director of the rapid response team for Obama's 2012 presidential campaign. And as you saw on Fox News Sunday, as I went to bed last night, [his clip] has 8 million views. Smith, who is a Bronx native, must be an intelligent woman, but going for the "bad boys" might . The savvy strategist then had to figure out how to break the news to de Blasio and his camp, as their soon-to-be City Hall press secretary was now at the center of her own juicy tabloid scandal. Sign up for our newsletter. It was a reporter from BuzzFeed News, waiting to take my place. She figured that Buttigiegs sexual orientation and impossible-to-pronounce last name rendered him dead on arrival, but started researching the 35-year-old Indiana mayor and promptly took an eight-hour fall down a Google rabbit hole. Smith: Im not going to touch that with a 10-foot pole. Lets be real, Adam. Because it would drive me nuts during the campaign hearing all his wonky, wonky talk about infrastructure, about roads, about smart sewers. 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. In a tweet shared on July 20, 2022, Jeff praised Smith for the publication of her insightful book., Talked @Morning_Joe about why I wrote Any Given Tuesday: "More than ever we need people to believe in the political processPolitics is more important than ever. And you dont know who is actually going to attack you. I want political people to read this book, because I think its fun. The actress who is the daughter of the late Lisa Marie Presley and musician Danny Keough met. Theyre out in country working on campaigns. Still, she said, I wasnt exactly a PR neophyte. Politics has a bias toward the status quo, she says. Obama had David Axelrod. She orders a beer, downs it and orders another. People get stuck in a rut because something worked last cycle, and so they think it will work this cycle and it doesnt. Because 2015 and 2016 were really difficult times in my life. Hes someone who is involved fighting childhood hunger. Candidates and the people around them can get so spun up about things, and when you get spun up you make the worst mistakes, she says. She and Spitzer then jetted to Jamaica to get away from the media frenzy. Smith: Youve got to meet voters where they are. Both Miller and Smith come off as quasi-heros, semi-savants, pseudo-sociologists. [11][12] In 2018, Smith became spokeswoman for Andrew Cuomo's successful re-election campaign, who had endorsed the political entity. "[30] Some critics felt that it minimized her role in discrediting the sexual assault allegations against Cuomo. And its really heartening because you realize the future of the Democratic Party is really bright, and that all we need to do is help lift these people up. Wren: Did you have a good handle before the campaign on Petes vulnerabilities? Our resort was more Leave It to Beaver than Debbie Does Dallas,' she claimed. He shoots her a look and gives a mock shrug, as if it's an inside joke between the three of us, now old chums: I mean, a little I guess., Buttigieg makes an appearance on "The View." Wren: Youve worked in a lot of red states South Dakota, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio. In that moment, in retrospect, it seems like Harris couldve ended Buttigiegs campaign. And although Smith would never say it, it plays on political reporters' narcissism, too. Disgraced former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, 54, and his new girlfriend Lis Smith, 31, may have enjoyed a relaxing family Christmas, but their cosy domesticity could soon be upset after it . I am a liberal Democrat, but I was so into the McCain thing. Why? She has a 3-day-old copy of the New York Post in her bag. We are humble and kind, to quote Tim McGraw. [2][3] During her time at Dartmouth, she volunteered for John Edwards' 2004 presidential campaign. [2][9], Her role in the campaign was explored by the 2021 documentary film Mayor Pete. Smith starts texting me, wanting to know if Id seen the celebrities in the audience, including George Takei, Kal Penn and Kate McKinnon. We were on the bus in New Hampshire the week we were playing each other and furiously checking our lineups. I think that she gets a lot of unfair criticism. There are probably dozens of Mayor Petes out there across the country. Smith is 31; a Dartmouth graduate who apparently has a thing for bad boys. The Covid pandemic. I think Ive heard Pete use the F-word once or twice, for example, and his personal life doesnt play out in the pages of the New York tabloids. I dont live and breathe politics every day. I want Democrats to read this book. They feel like if they dont respond within two minutes, that the crisis is going to fester. But it has a clear parallel to Smiths relentless scheduling of meetings between Buttigieg and reportersan audaciously direct way to connect with reporters that bought the campaign pretty good press. Lis knew that she had to build wide to build up, said Stephanie Cutter, who also worked on Obamas 2012 effort. Smith double majored in government and anthropology at Dartmouth College, graduating in 2005. None of those races were particularly easy. Wren: I want a window into how you advise candidates amid a crisis. | James Devaney/GC Images. The Post ran the exclusive photos of Spitzer ducking in and out of the Soho walk-up. I had that early rush of love on the brainI wasnt thinking clearly. I am humbled and flattered and appreciative of when people recognize the hard work I put in on our media strategy, and the fact that we employed a media strategy that was radically different from everyone else in the field. And when I began asking around to figure out who was behind that strategy, the same name kept coming up: Lis Smith. What do I get if I pay for your consulting services? Its sad, but our politics isnt built to deal with people who are reasonable. Shes on her phone talking to another Buttigieg aide. And there was not a better antidote to Trump than Pete in terms of style, in terms of life experience, and in terms of his worldview. People are seeing politics touch everything in our lives rally around, and pulling up things on lis smith husband he up. My gut thing for bad boys worked last cycle, and started taking on more clients. To quote Tim McGraw worked on Obamas 2012 effort advise candidates amid a crisis different.! 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