Plouffe Talks Primaries, Campaign Trail at IOP

Before a packed crowd at the Institute of Politics Forum last night, David Plouffe—President Obama’s former campaign manager—spoke about the highs and lows of the campaign trail as well as the importance of the campaign’s volunteer force.

Plouffe, a visiting fellow at the IOP this semester, began by addressing the campaign’s surprising loss in New Hampshire and went on to discuss topics ranging from John McCain’s pick of Sarah Palin to the current state of the Republican party.



Plouffe then fielded questions from audience members who lined up at microphones positioned throughout the forum.

Eva Z. Lam ’10, president of the Harvard College Democrats, and Malcom A. Glenn ’09, former president of The Crimson, posed questions to the political operative for the first half of the event.

The dedication of Obama’s supporters came up as a reoccurring theme during Plouffe’s remarks.

“I think a lot of our supporters in the end believed that if they spent one less hour not working, [Obama] might not win... and there was some truth to that,” he said.

Glenn started off the evening asking “What the heck happened?” during the New Hampshire primary that resulted in an Obama loss to Hillary Clinton.

Plouffe offered several explanations, including tough attacks from the Clinton camp, the portrayal of Obama as a “rock star” in the media, Clinton’s “moment of emotion,” and a “subterranean battle with John McCain for independent voters.”

But, ultimately, he said, “I don’t think any of us can say for sure why we lost.”

Plouffe said that for much of the primaries, he was unsure what the result would be.

“We knew that one wrong moment and we’d fall off the cliff,” he said.

Plouffe was pressed to address Palin, McCain’s controversial vice-presidential pick.

“She was our best organizer and fundraiser,” he said. “So she really helped in that regard.”

At one point, Plouffe called Newt Gingrich the current quarterback of the Republican Party and Rush Limbaugh the party’s announcer.

Plouffe also gave Harvard students some advice about getting involved in campaigns.

“You’ve got to show that you’re willing to get your hands dirty. You’re not going to be doing much thinking,” he said.

—Staff writer Eric P. Newcomer can be reached at newcomer@fas.harvard.edu.