Jim Messina (politician)
| Jim Messina | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations | |
|
In office January 20, 2009 – January 26, 2011 |
|
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Blake Gottesman |
| Succeeded by | Alyssa Mastromonaco |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
29 October 1969 Denver, Colorado, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater | University of Montana, Missoula |
Jim Messina (born 1969) is a political adviser who was the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2011 and served as the campaign manager for Obama's successful 2012 re-election campaign. He is also a senior adviser to the UK Conservative Party.
Messina was born in Denver, Colorado, and raised in Boise, Idaho. He graduated from Boise High School in Boise, Idaho in 1988 and earned his B.A. in political science and journalism from the University of Montana in 1993. In 1993, as a college senior, Messina managed Democratic Mayor Dan Kemmis's successful re-election bid for Mayor of Missoula, Montana. Messina has Italian ancestry; in 2013 he received the Machiavelli Award as the Italian American Democrat of the Year.
In 1995, Messina was hired by Democratic U.S. Senator Max Baucus of Montana. They describe their relationship as father-son-like. In 1999, he became Chief of Staff to Democratic U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy of New York.
In 2002, he ran Baucus's 2002 re-election campaign. Messina "refused to let Baucus attend any debate that didn’t include a third-party candidate whose skin had turned blue from drinking an anti-infection solution, a distraction to help take attention away from the credible Republican candidate." Messina was purportedly responsible for creating an infamously homophobic television ad for Baucus.
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