Under the guise of "expanding" the campaign's Iowa state staff, Hillary Clinton's campaign today named Teresa Vilmain as state director, moving current state dir. JoDee Winterhoff to the newly-created position of senior strategist.
Vilmain is one of the best field operatives in the Democratic Party; she worked for Gov. Tom Vilsack's presidential bid until he decided to drop out and endorse Hillary. Vilmain worked for Tom Harkin the early 1980s, served as Gary Hart's Iowa state director in 1984 and Michael Dukakis's state director in 1988. She's also been political director of EMILY's List.
That Vilmain has been given the state director's portfolio means that the Clinton campaign wants to demonstrate that they are serious about trying to win the state, despite a leaked memo urging her to abandon the state and save money.
Here's how a Clinton campaign press release explains the change:
JoDee Winterhof will shift from state director to the role of senior strategist. She will become a chief surrogate for the campaign, traveling across the state to do more political outreach and expand on the campaign’s women and other constituency outreach, and continue to play a key role in the overall strategy of the Iowa campaign.
You can read the full release after the jump.
Clinton returns to Iowa on Saturday, the third consecutive weekend she's traveled there.
Vilmain Named State Director, Winterhof Becomes Senior Strategist
On the heels of her strong organizational showing at this weekend’s Iowa Hall of Fame Dinner, Hillary Clinton’s campaign today announced a major expansion of her Iowa leadership Team.
The campaign today named longtime Democratic activist Teresa Vilmain as Iowa State Director. Vilmain will be responsible for day-to-day operations and running the campaign in the state. “Our campaign is expanding in a serious way,” said Winterhof. “I’m excited to work alongside Teresa Vilmain again, and am looking forward to getting out around the state and continuing to make the case to Iowans that Hillary Clinton is the candidate most ready to lead our nation from day one.
A native Iowan, Winterhof also served as Chief of Staff to Senator Tom Harkin.
JoDee Winterhof will shift from state director to the role of senior strategist. She will become a chief surrogate for the campaign, traveling across the state to do more political outreach and expand on the campaign’s women and other constituency outreach, and continue to play a key role in the overall strategy of the Iowa campaign.
Vilmain is one of the most experienced operatives in the Democratic Party, having worked on the campaigns of Senator John Culver, Senator Tom Harkin and Governor Tom Vilsack and Lt. Governor Sally Pederson. A veteran of the 1992 and 1996 Clinton presidential campaigns and the 2000 Gore presidential campaign, Vilmain was a senior strategist on Vilsack’s presidential campaign earlier this year. She also has worked in senior roles at the Democratic National Committee and EMILY’s List.
“I am honored to join Senator Clinton’s Iowa campaign,” said Vilmain. “She is the only candidate with the experience and leadership to bring real change to our nation. I’m excited to work with JoDee Winterhof and the rest of the Iowa team to get that message out across Iowa.”
“JoDee Winterhof has done a great job getting our Iowa campaign off the ground, and look forward to continuing to work with her towards success in January,” said Senator Clinton. “By adding Teresa Vilmain to our Iowa leadership team, we are bringing in even more experience and expanding our ability to talk to more Iowans. I look forward to coming back to Iowa this weekend and talking to people about my vision for getting our country back on track.”
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"That Vilmain has been given the state director's portfolio means that the Clinton campaign wants to demonstrate that they are serious about trying to win the state, despite a leaked memo urging her to abandon the state and save money."
Of course.
I have no idea what they were thinking with the leaked memo. They can lower expectations all they want, but they still need to win Iowa to strangle Edwards in the crib.
If they let him get going in Iowa, they'll get steamrollered in succeeding states. The primary calendar this year isn't going to allow for firewalls.
Posted by Petey | June 5, 2007 12:49 PM