I couldnt talk to the media, and they didnt lift a finger to defend me.. Andrew Cuomo's. Well, of course someone running for president would need to talk about it with me first, right? 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. Not to be cheesy, but it is one of my proudest accomplishments. 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. The good candidates have humility. At the newsstand around the corner, you could buy a New York magazine with Buttigiegs beatifically smiling face splashed across the cover, and a New York Times with an A1 story about his time at Harvard. Across the street, Brooklyn hipsters of all ages and manner of facial hair are lining up around the block at a bowling alley/music venue to catch Buttigieg at a fundraiser. Most people do have nerdy sides to them. William C. Lopez After leaving the eatery at around 12:30 a.m., Smith gave Spitzer a flirtatious look over her shoulder before the . We were on the bus in New Hampshire the week we were playing each other and furiously checking our lineups. Im joking. Wren: He rehabilitated you and taught you to love the political process again. Phil snorted: Fck. Although Smith and Spitzer attempted to keep the affair under wraps, a photographer for the New York Post spotted the pair at her SoHo walkup apartment, exchanging loving looks.. The attack we had been dreading was coming. Wren: Youve worked in a lot of red states South Dakota, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio. He had stayed behind in an area where there was active conflict while she travelled on by herself. Id worked for former [Former Maryland Gov.] Lis Smith on Pete Buttigieg's campaign bus during a four day tour of Iowa, September 23, 2019. It was written over a period of 18 months,[25] and covers her life and political career. I think its a little bit of a ride. Seeing how Pete cuts through with people and what a truly effective messenger hes become for the Democratic Party, it makes you realize: Theres not just one Mayor Pete. Overtime: David Duchovny, Matt Taibbi, Lis Smith | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) Real Time with Bill Maher 2.54M subscribers Subscribe 11K Share 913K views 6 months ago Subscribe to the Real. 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. They have one man to thank. A few weeks ago, a couple of hundred people expressed interest in this event. Hes someone I ask for advice. From the second I met Pete, I knew that there was something special about him. The photographer had captured Eliot and me exchanging loving looks as wed returned from a late-night dinner at a restaurant on my block.. Rather than going after Pete, Harris trained her fire on Biden.. After winning the election, the candidate joined the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), and Smith consulted briefly for the group. She has also directed communications and strategy for a number of other gubernatorial, mayoral and congressional campaigns. Because 2015 and 2016 were really difficult times in my life. 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. 20 2022, Published 11:56 a.m. Pete Buttigieg emerges as Democratic rock star proclaimed Business Insider during the race. 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. 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. Smith: I dont know, because I think one thing we saw was that he was pretty good about handling stuff. The spotlight turns to Kamala Harris, the only Black candidate on stage. Eliot Spitzer's girlfriend Lis Smith, 31, has not been asked to take up a position in New York mayor Bill de Blasio's new City Hall team in the wake of her affair with the disgraced former governor. Then, in an instant, everything changed, Smith writes in her tell-all, Any Given Tuesday., It came in the form of a text from [fellow consultant] Hari [Sevugan]: `Call me. And what Pete understood, and why I believed in him, was that to beat Trump, we didnt need to be him. He didnt feel the need to go out there and be the coolest guy or the hippest guy on stage. Some are even in the White House, like Deputy Press Secretary Chris Meagher, who briefed the press not too long ago. But seriously. He did. [9][41] From 2013 to 2015, she had a relationship with her former boss, New York governor Eliot Spitzer. | Jul. Smith: Dont make me praise Chris Meagher. Smith: Im not going to touch that with a 10-foot pole. Your knowledge of the process? The New York tabs may have sharpened her game, but people who've known her for years say Smith came ready for the fight. Smith said she felt violated after learning she was being followed. 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. But until they released him from the NDA, we just didnt get his clients. I romanticize it. She gravitates to candidates who are challenging and testing the status quo. But there may be no political couple odder than that of Buttigieg and Smith. Bill de Blasio, too. This sign-up form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Wren: This book is in some ways a tell-all about the role of a political consultant. You dont reach out to the 35-year-old gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana, because you think it will be an easy ride.. Andrew Cuomo, had turned into a Nicorette-chomping ahole who ruined the lives of his staffers after letting national fame get to his head during the coronavirus pandemic. I had a beerhe stuck to waterand we talked about his political ambitions and the state of the Democratic Party and why Trump won. [16] Business Insider considered her to be one of the 10 most powerful women running the 2020 presidential campaigns. Yeah. Chuck Kennedy/PFA. 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." To avoid stakeouts during the media frenzy that followed, Smith said she temporarily stayed with a friend from her college days at Dartmouthwho resided on the Upper West Side. Pete has no battle scars. Wren: Fair enough. Lis Smith is a veteran of twenty political campaigns. He looked white as a ghost, didnt say anything, just nodding along. Pete helped pull back that part of me, because while that might work when youre dealing in the New York tabloids, that doesnt sell as well in the Des Moines Register. [44] She describes herself as an "oyster-tarian," which she defines as a vegetarian who will eat oysters. I remember in Iowa, we had all these young mayors for him. 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. This is how we stop there from being a day three. We knew the McKinsey stuff would be it, but he was bound by an NDA. Wed gone down to Jamaica to get away from tabloid drama, not actively court it, Smith said. Based on that experience, how should Democrats make gains in those kinds of states in 2022? In some ways, he came across as a Midwestern dad before he was, in fact, a Midwestern dad. The Post ran the exclusive photos of Spitzer ducking in and out of the Soho walk-up. Other candidates, they dont need to do it. Details of that relationship were first brought to light by various media outlets and then, in Smiths recently debuted memoir, Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story. It wasnt really until 2012 when I worked for Barack Obama that I did find a really strong female mentor in Stephanie Cutter and I learned so much about my job, so much about politics, so much about how to effectively communicate from Stephanie Cutter. Smiths mother is a descendent of a signer of the Mayflower Compact, and a cousin of lead Watergate investigator Sam Ervin. Politics is literally a matter of life and death. Hes going to sound so elitist. Or: Why does he have to answer every question with a proverb? Voters can smell when candidates are being authentic, and when candidates are not. You know what people are going to react to, and you know that the tabloids, just like the political press, oftentimes just wants a little scalp and then they will move on., How the Intercept Is Fueling the Democratic Civil WarBy Steven Perlberg. Smiths Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story, out July 19, is an irreverent, intimate and honest look behind the curtain of modern political image-making including her own. Click here. Id made some faulty assumptions, but the first was that my loyalty to de Blasio or my competence at my job mattered. After 20 campaigns flacking for candidates such as Transportation Secretary and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill,. Lisa Smith (soldier) Lisa Smith (born c. 1981) is a former Irish soldier who converted to Islam and later travelled to Syria during the Syrian Civil War to join the militant group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) during the Syrian Civil War. Is it your relationship with reporters and cable bookers? Can I tell you something very off the record, she texts. Chuck Kennedy/PFA. Smith plotted the rollout of Pete Buttigiegs longshot presidential campaign. 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. For example, you write in your book about going to a pop-up bar in South Bend with Pete and his best friend and campaign manager, Mike Schmuhl. Im just going to leave it there because I thought it was funny. [6] She became communications director for the Democratic Governors Association in 2011. That fall, Spitzer and Smith started dating, which led to the New York City tabloids staking out her apartment to watch the pair coming and going. There is this thing that I have to be very honest with, because maybe I had been seen as a little radioactive because I had unwillingly had my private life spread all over the tabloids, more established candidates might not have hired me. 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. Hes someone who is involved fighting childhood hunger. It was Lis telling me I need to fire my campaign manager, that the guy is a fucking idiot. He was thinking of running for chair of the Democratic National Committee. He was a once-in-a-generation talent, someone who perfectly met the moment, says Smith. In 2001, she graduated Bronxville High School. She had an "itch," the political consultant writes in her. The White House Correspondents Dinner is shrinking back to the boring awards ceremony journalists claimed to prefer. He was also married. Ahead of the release of her highly anticipated political memoir (which Politico Magazine excerpted last week), that includes figuring out how to get her computer to record our phone interview ammo to use in the event that its needed to set the record straight. Adam Wren is national politics correspondent at POLITICO. 8,310 Followers, 856 Following, 219 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Lis Smith (@lis__smith) Hold on, Im sorry. Shes a Black half-South-Indian woman. News has confirmed her daughter Riley Keough welcomed a daughter with husband Ben Smith-Petersen, who mentioned their child at the singer's. Win or lose, she's turned an unknown into a serious . In recent months you have made a name for yourself by working for this new crop of candidates out in the middle of the country: Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, Aftab Pureval and others. Wren: You mentioned that some people might view you as radioactive. Political strategist Lis Smith reveals in her new book how The Post exposed that she was dating prostitution-loving former Gov. In that same vein, I know that there were people in the transportation secretarys inner circle that thought his taking that position wasnt the best idea. 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. She has been actively involved in politics after the completion of her graduation from Dartmouth . 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. But he is also the kind of person journalists tend to like: bookish, somehow earnest with a sense of irony, and willing to talk the way journalists like people to talk, playing the pundit and getting into the political process and discussing his own ambitions. It was total bullst. Lis Smith, the political communications specialist who helped bring Buttigieg to national prominence before he became President Joe Biden's Transportation secretary, revealed the decision in an . There were, Smith guesses, probably 150 such meetings with the national press corps, and when he traveled across the country, speaking to local county party dinners and fundraisers across the Midwest and Great Plains, they would make time for one-on-ones with the local political press there, too. 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. They are doing things that are more directly relevant to peoples lives. If we do that it is a recipe for disaster. Smith: One of the reasons I wanted to write this book was because when I was thinking at 19 or 20 about getting into this world, [a book like this] didnt exist. Why that works with Pete, whatever you want to call it the earnest side of him, this nerdy side of him, the wonky side of him was because it was authentically Pete. I would say that these days, my vetting skills are maybe a little savvier. On the flip side of that, the most established, the most convention conventional political consultants werent going to go work for Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend. Oh really, you didnt know that? Mistakes that Ive made with media. 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 . Inside the Shrinking Newsroom of the Paper That Shapes the PrimariesBy Tim Alberta. The speed with which Buttegieg emerged has been astonishing, which happens to be the speed at which Smith works. They feel like if they dont respond within two minutes, that the crisis is going to fester. She orders a beer, downs it and orders another. Wren: What is your relationship with Pete like now? Theyre just not looking in the right places. Smith tried to outfox The Post by going to the Daily News as a pre-emptive strike in an effort to get a more favorable story planted about her relationship with Spitzer. Sign up for POLITICO Magazines email of the weeks best, delivered to your inbox every Friday morning. The Simpsons actress Yeardley Smith is newly married and she and her husband have quite the . She was also communications director for Dan Seals' 2008 Illinois House race. And if I can help you with my experience, my profile, my contacts, to do that, then I will do it. I remember hearing from other consultants, Why is he going out there speaking seven languages? And maybe I shouldve gone to law school. But I love politics because it touches everything in our lives. We are humble and kind, to quote Tim McGraw. A photo and audio tour of the hosts driving the conversation. Maybe a story that would be 80-20 bad you can get down to 60-40 bad, and that little bit is worth it.. Wren: Much has been made about Trump Derangement Syndrome this idea that, true or not, he scrambles rational political responses from otherwise reasonable people. John Edwards comes to mind. The guy didnt have time to say hello before Smith could hear screaming over the line. [19], In 2021, Smith worked closely with then-governor Andrew Cuomo, and advised him on how to respond to the sexual harassment allegations against him. Pete was completely different. Smith tells Politico:. It went on like this, just cursing up a blue streak for like two minutes., The aides mistake, Smith recalls, had to do with email: He failed to BCC reporters on a news release he blasted out. People read about my personal life in Page Six, and they think Im going to be sort of an out-there type of person that is attention seeking and all of that. The one thing you saw on our campaign in 2020 is that everywhere we went, he was introduced by young leaders, young mayors. Lis knew that she had to build wide to build up, said Stephanie Cutter, who also worked on Obamas 2012 effort. Click here. Lis Smith, Buttigieg's top communications adviser . On a cornier side, I think because he is such a good person, he made a lot of us better people throughout, because politics can be sort of a nasty business. Liz Smith, the syndicated gossip columnist who chronicled the lives of New York's rich and famous with such skill she became known as the "Dame of Dish . There is only so much you can do to bare your soul over a beer, but hopefully people get to know you on some level and more than they would one gaggle at a time. Ive always tried to be very grounded. Most people do have corny sides to them. Isis bride Lisa Smith's husband was British Jihadist Sajid Aslam During an investigation conducted by the Irish Mail on Sunday, she said that Aslam, the father of her daughter, is dead - having been killed in the past three months. That was my philosophy. Buttigieg reignited Smiths love for politics, she says, after a really difficult 2015 and 2016 due to her breakup with former New York Gov. This is what day one looks like. The candidate and the campaign manager dutifully board the aircraft, and just when it seems the door is about to close, as they start looking around nervously, in comes Smith, sunglasses and coat still on, laptop and cords dangling from her arms, phone pressed against her ear. There may be nobody more central to Mayor Pete's media successbesides the candidate himself, and arguably his social-media-savvy husband, Chasten Buttigiegthan Smith, who serves as a. Terry McAuliffe, and President Barack Obama, Lis Smith is finally flacking for Lis Smith. Tommy McArdle. Yeah, I guess Id fallen in love with slightly problematic guy It wasnt like I was dating Ted BundyEliot was the former governor and attorney general of New York State, Smith said, referring to the serial killer. Axelrod told Buttigieg about Smith, and OMalley told Smith about this young mayor from South Bend. And I have a nice, quiet life where I dont live in Washington, D.C. 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