Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs will defend President Barack Obama in New Hampshire on Monday, countering criticism at a Republican presidential debate in the nation's first primary state.

Campaign officials said Gibbs will appear in network and local affiliate television interviews connected to the debate, an early forum for the Republican presidential field. Obama's stewardship of the economy, reform of the nation's health care system and handling of wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya are all expected to draw fire from the Republican field.

Less than 17 months before Election Day 2012, Obama's campaign is rebuilding its political organization in early primary states and ramping up its network of volunteers and call centers used to re-engage voters. While Obama has focused on governing and largely limited his role to fundraising, the Democratic National Committee and outside groups have begun efforts to define leading Republicans.

Gibbs will play a similar role in New Hampshire, defending Obama's policies as it faces fresh criticism from the slate of GOP candidates. A longtime Obama adviser, Gibbs served as a spokesman for Obama's 2004 Senate campaign, 2008 presidential campaign and as White House press secretary for two years.

A debate among the 7 dwarfs. And it won't be any better when the Huntsman arrives, either.

Obama soothes a crying baby.

Compare to the moron who preceded him:

Obama team hiring state data gurus

In a sign of the kind of large-scale, methodical technical operation the Obama-Biden re-elect is currently constructing, a colleague sends over a job listing for "State Data Directors" to report to the "Regional Data Desks" in Chicago.

That's not a traditional campaign title, though it may well become one; it's also quite early to start drilling down to that level.

Here's the listing:

That video is way too adorable for words.

I know he says they're done but wouldn't it be fun to have a little baby in the White House?

Having a kid at 50 ain't easy.

Having a kid at 50 ain't easy.

Dem campaigns use new software to tally hard numbers ...


While Obama lost Georgia, a software program devised by three staffers in that office has since changed the mechanics of Democratic campaigns. The company they started, the NationalField, has evolved to host an internal social network for political campaigns and is branching outside the political market.

The platform the company offers looks roughly like Facebook, with a familiar three-column design and vertical news feed. But it has two key differences. First, participants fill out customized forms to “report” field data to their superiors. And second, it capitalizes on something that campaigns — particularly Obama’s — don’t often advertise: They’re intensely hierarchical, quasi-military organizations with levels ranging from volunteer to campaign manager and information that can be shared only at certain levels.

“The social hierarchy is incredibly powerful,” said Aharon Wasserman, the company’s president and chief product officer. “We’re providing a real-time, tailored view of data based on how each person fits into an organization.”

NationalField is designed for data to aggregate upward. That means that low-level volunteers can see one another’s tallies of calls and doors but don’t have access to the whole picture. State directors, for instance, can see data for their states, while campaign managers can instantly see trends for a whole country or region.

It’s an insight that has made the platform instantly popular with a range of Democratic organizations — in 2010, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and an array of Democratic gubernatorial and other campaigns were customers. The company declined to comment on its relationship with the Obama campaign. But in recent days, a number of state Obama staffers have tweeted about using the platform, confirming that the reelection campaign will be relying on it. The company said it recently closed a major investment and that it’s expanding outside the political market, though it declined to name customers.

I wonder if Obama and Ed Jew talked about Occupy SF and Occupy Oakland/General strike.

Ed Lee is San Francisco's mayor. Ed Jew is the former San Francisco supervisor (and perjurer and extorter).*


* And not a joooooo.

The Truth Team webpage features a blog with references to three outlets “AttackWatch,” KeepingGOPHonest,“ and ”KeepingHisWord.”

The website, housed at Obama’s campaign website, includes information listed by issue, and allows volunteers to organize by state or group.

From Knife Seller to the President’s Hard Edge

WASHINGTON — David Plouffe is not a hugger, crier or someone who gets all gaga every time he walks into his West Wing office, just a few feet from that of the president. He disdains doomsayers as “bed-wetters,” press hordes as “jackals” and the political noise machine as a profanity that begins with “cluster.”

Fiercely data-driven, Mr. Plouffe revels in the company of spreadsheets, lists, maps and the Baseball Almanac. Fiercely competitive, he once decked a colleague in a friendly touch football game for taunting him. Fiercely unsentimental, he expends zero amazement over his career climb from selling knives door to door to a first-among-equals status in the White House’s closed circle.

Mr. Plouffe, 44, who managed President Obama’s campaign in the relatively dewy-eyed days of 2008, rejoined his team last year after a lucrative hiatus. Since then, he has asserted himself as the main orchestrator of the White House message, political strategy and day-to-day presentation of the candidate.

If the campaign of four years ago sold Mr. Obama as a force for what Mr. Plouffe called “a politics of unity, hope and common purpose,” this one is rooted firmly in the grind-it-out imperatives of re-election. Today, Mr. Obama seems every bit primed for “brass-knuckle time,” as Mr. Plouffe once termed campaign brawling, with Mr. Plouffe leading an effort that has shown every sign of doing whatever it takes to succeed.

They're gearing up. Take a quick look:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hastingsmillers ... in-chicago

And to say that the campaign doesn’t fear Romney is an understatement — he’s viewed as almost a joke.

... with credit to whoever did the original cartoon (gun label said "McCain," so I updated it).

I think that's a problem. They better be afraid of Romney.