Michael DuHaime

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Mike DuHaime (born 1974), a Republican strategist in the United States, was the campaign manager of former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's failed campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

DuHaime served as Political Director of the Republican National Committee from January 2005 to December 2006, where he become known for his ability to effectively organize on the grassroots level.

He is considered a protege of Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman, and Terry Nelson, who is the Campaign Manager for Rudy Giuliani's 2008 presidential campaign.

At age 32, he is one of the youngest people to manage a campaign for the Presidency. At 32 he is also the youngest retired former campaign director for a major presidential candidate.

The National Journal's Hotline called Giuliani's pick "The Get of the Week" stating that, "He is unknown outside Washington and Republican circles; you can't Google his picture. Inside the Beltway, he is a rising star and a political natural."

As a Regional Political Director for Bush-Cheney presidential campaign in 2004, DuHaime helped develop the national "get out the vote" and Election Day efforts, and directed the day-to-day campaign operations in 11 northeastern states, which yielded millions more votes for the President in the region and kept John Kerry tied up in his Northeastern base.

Prior to working on the Bush campaign, DuHaime has already built an impressive resume in state and national politics by helping Republicans win elections on the local, state and federal level. He is known for his ability to coordinate genuine grassroots politics with creative campaign communications, strategies and tactics.

Contents 1 Family 2 Career 3 Early career 4 2000 campaign 5 Political consultant 6 2008 Presidential Election 7 References

[edit] Family

DuHaime was born in 1973 and grew up in Bloomingdale, New Jersey.^[1]

His father, Richard DuHaime, a conservative Republican, was a four-term Passaic County Freeholder and ran for the U.S. Senate in 1996. He finished second in a three-way Republican primary, losing to Rep. Richard Zimmer. In Passaic County, he won nearly 78% of the vote.

His mother, Anne DuHaime, served as the Mayor of Bloomingdale. He is the brother of Debbie DuHaime, a New York traffic reporter on WABC's morning show and the John Gambling Show.

[edit] Career

DuHaime graduated from Rutgers University in 1995 with a B.A. in Journalism and Political science. He was also a four-year skater on the Rutgers Ice Hockey team where he served as a captain for championship teams his junior and senior seasons.

He is married to Dore Carroll, a former reporter for The Star-Ledger, New Jersey's largest daily newspaper. In 2005, she was part of a team of reporters who won the Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of scandals that contributed toward the resignation of Governor James E. McGreevey. They reside in Virginia and New Jersey with their daughter.

[edit] Early career

DuHaime started in politics as a volunteer on his father's campaigns for Freeholder and U.S. Senate, and worked as an intern in the New Jersey State Senate Majority office in Trenton.

In 1997, he became the Campaign Manager for Anthony Bucco, a Republican State Assemblyman from Morris County who was challenging an incumbent Democratic State Senator in New Jersey's 25th Legislative District. Bucco defeated Peter Mancuso, a former Mayor of Morris Township and a former New Jersey Republican State Committee Finance Chairman, in the Republican primary by a 56%-44% margin. In the General Election, Bucco defeated incumbent State Sen. Gordon MacInnes by a 55%-44% margin. Bucco won despite being heavily outspent in both races, and remains the only Republican to defeat an incumbent Democratic State Senator in New Jersey since 1991.

As the Vice-President of Political Communications in 1998 for Campbell & Pusateri, Ltd., a national Republican consulting firm in Alexandria, Virginia, DuHaime designed paid media and mail strategies for races throughout the country, the most noteworthy of which was the open seat congressional race in Pennsylvania's 10th District, where Democrats outnumbered Republicans. DuHaime's client, businessman Don Sherwood, assembled "a grass roots organization of 1,800 volunteers and propounding an agenda that combined small business to cut taxes" (Almanac of American Politics 2000) and won an eight-candidate field in the Republican primary with 43% of the vote. Scranton Mayor Jamse Connors finished second with 23%. In the General Election, Sherwood defeated Patrick Casey, the son of popular former Governor Robert Casey, by 515 votes, 49%-48%.

Recognized for his ability and success, Campaigns & Elections Magazine named DuHaime a “Rising Star in American Politics” at the age of 24 in 1998, and he has taught seminars on political communication and grassroots campaigning to candidates and operatives in New Jersey and Washington. DuHaime has also spoken on grassroots politics at Harvard and Rutgers.

In 1999, DuHaime returned to New Jersey to work in the District Office of Rep. Bob Franks, a former Republican State Chairman who was in his fourth term in the House. He also served as Executive Director of New Jersey's New Century, a political action committee chaired by Congressman Franks.

[edit] 2000 campaign

Democratic U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg was retiring after three terms and Republican Governor Christine Todd Whitman was running to succeed him. But in September 1999, Whitman unexpectedly dropped out of the race and four candidates, including Bob Franks, sought the Republican Senate nomination.

DuHaime became Franks' Deputy Campaign Manager. Franks won the Republican nomination after an intensive grass roots campaign, directed by DuHaime, that included several stunning upsets in pre-primary conventions for the endorsements of county organizations. Franks nearly won the General Election, even though the Democratic candidate, former Goldman Sachs Chairman Jon S. Corzine, spent nearly $80 million (a twelve to one spending edge) to win the seat in a state that Al Gore won by sixteen percentage points.

A Quinnipiac University poll released the day before the 2000 election showed Franks leading Corzine, 45%-43%.

[edit] Political consultant

DuHaime owned his own political consulting firm from 2001 to 2003. DuHaime Communications, Inc. of Hoboken, New Jersey won an impressive 88% of its races for federal, state, county and local office. His clients included Thomas H. Kean, Jr., the son of the former Governor of New Jersey, who won election to his first public office in 2001 as a candidate for the New Jersey General Assembly in a Special Election. DuHaime was also the consultant for Kean's first State Senate race two years later. Another client was Bill Baroni, who unseated an incumbent Democratic Assemblyman in 2003, the only GOP challenger to win that year.

DuHaime served as Executive Director of the New Jersey Republican State Committee in 2002. The state party utilized innovative GOTV tactics that resulted in increased turnout in GOP strongholds that, for the first time in years, outpaced the turnout in Democratic areas.

[edit] 2008 Presidential Election

DuHaime was originally serving as campaign manager for Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign. However when Arizona Senator John McCain secured the Republican nomination, DuHaime became the senior advisor for Political Operations at the Republican National Committee.[1]

[edit] References