Dan Pfeiffer

Why He Matters Pfeiffer has moved from office to office, campaign to campaign during his decade of work in politics. But he seems to have found a semi-permanent home with President Barack Obama. After serving as Obama’s traveling press secretary, deputy communications director and communications director during the 2008 presidential campaign and transition, Pfeiffer joined the White House as deputy communications director in January 2009, when he was just 33-years-old. In November of that year, the White House announced he would take over as communications director following Anita Dunn's departure.(1) Though young, Pfeiffer is not inexperienced. He began working in politics straight out of college and has worked for some of the most prominent Democrats in the country. His list of former bosses includes ex-Vice President Al Gore, and former Sens. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Tim Johnson (D-S.D.). He worked for Daschle when the former senator explored a 2004 presidential run, and advised Bayh when the Indiana senator was contemplating a 2008 presidential bid. But neither senator made a serious run for president, and Pfeiffer’s connections to Daschle’s staff landed him a job on the Obama campaign. In his new job, he will have to decide whether to continue Dunn's aggressive approach, including a battle with the Fox News Channel in fall 2009 in which she dubbed the station "part of the Republican Party." (2) At a Glance Current Position: Deputy White House Communications Director (since January 2009) Career History: Communications Director for Barack Obama's transition team (November 2008 to January 2009); Deputy Communications Director for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign (July 2008 to November 2008); Traveling press secretary for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign (January 2008 to July 2008) Birthday: December 24, 1975 Hometown: Wilmington, Del. Alma Mater: Georgetown University, B.A. (government), 1998 Spouse: Sarah Feinberg Religion: N/A DC Office: N/A Email N/A Web site Path to Power Pfeiffer was born on Dec. 24, 1975, in Wilmington, Del. His mother was a learning specialist at Wilmington Friends School where her son attended, and his father was senior vice president and chief financial officer of DuPont.(3) He went to Georgetown University to study government and graduated in 1998. Always interested in politics, Pfeiffer immediately got a job in the Clinton administration at the Justice Department, where he served as communications director for Clinton’s initiative to put 100,000 cops on the street.(4) In the fall of 1999, Pfeiffer left Washington and moved to California to work on a ballot initiative. Proposition 28 would have repealed a 50-cent cigarette tax enacted by Proposition 10 in 1998. It was defeated overwhelmingly.(4) In March 2000, Pfeiffer joined Al Gore’s presidential campaign as the director for communications in the Northeast; there, he met his future wife, Sarah Feinberg, who was Gore’s West Virginia press secretary.(3) After the 2000 election, Pfeiffer worked as communications director for the Democratic Governors Association for two years before joining Tim Johnson’s 2002 campaign also as communications director. Johnson’s campaign was successful, but instead of joining his Senate office, Pfeiffer was hired by Pete Rouse to work in Senate Minority Leader Daschle’s office. At the time, Daschle looked to be readying for his own presidential run. Instead, Daschle was beaten in his 2004 Senate race by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.).(5) In 2005, Pfeiffer moved into Sen. Bayh’s office. The move was seen as an attempt by Bayh to boost his staff for a potential 2008 presidential run, though Pfeiffer denied that was the case.(6) Pfeiffer was Bayh’s communications director until September 2006, when he moved to Bayh’s PAC, the All America PAC. In 2007, when Bayh declined to run for president, Pfeiffer left the PAC and joined Barack Obama’s staff as Obama’s traveling press secretary. Once again, it was Rouse who called Pfeiffer to offer him the job. “Do you know what a sense of déjà vu I’m having?” Pfeiffer said to Rouse.(5) He became the presidential campaign’s deputy communications director in the summer of 2008 when then-Communications Director Robert Gibbs became the press secretary.(7) After Obama won, Pfeiffer spearheaded communications for the transition team before being tapped by Obama to be deputy communications director in the White House.(8) The Issues Two people - Ellen Moran (now Commerce chief of staff) and Anita Dunn - have now held the job Pfeiffer will step into when Dunn departs. He will have to decide whether to continue to aggressively engage the Fox News Channel, a battle started by Dunn, who raised eyebrows when she argued in fall 2009 that Fox was a "part of the Republican Party."(9) Pfeiffer has worked in communications his entire professional life, and the New York Times says he has “solid relationships with some of the most influential reporters in Washington” and “an insider’s familiarity with Mr. Obama’s approach to communicating, as well as an understanding of online tools like Facebook and Twitter.”(10) From using Facebook and Twitter to placing ads in video games, the Obama campaign was revolutionary in its ability to bring young people into the voting process. Pfeiffer said he wasn’t a part of the video game discussion, but “this is sort of the hallmark of our campaign,” he said. “We want to bring a lot of new people into the process.”(11) In addition to dealing with the press, Pfeiffer also works on strategy. In a story that has now been retold dozens of times, Pfeiffer was the Obama staffer who was walking past the television when 2008 Obama rival Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said “the fundamentals of our economy are strong” on the morning when Lehman Brothers collapsed.(12) Pfeiffer’s reaction was not subtle: “Shut up! He said what?” He immediately went into campaign strategist David Plouffe’s office and by the end of the day, everyone was talking about McCain’s gaffe. It proved to be pivotal in the 2008 presidential election.(10) The Obama press office started off badly disorganized, prompting some journalists to complain openly.(13) But Obama’s campaign has never been particularly friendly with national reporters, preferring what has been dubbed the “Bush model,” meaning few leaks because few people know everything.(14) The Network Pfeiffer has worked for a half-dozen different Democrats in his relatively short political career. He worked stints for Vice President Al Gore and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) during their presidential run, and also staffed the offices of Sens. Tim Johnson and Evan Bayh. But Pfeiffer is also a part of the Daschle network. He was hired by Daschle’s then-chief of staff Pete Rouse, who later hired Pfeiffer to work for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Rouse now serves as a senior White House adviser. During the campaign, Pfeiffer worked directly under Robert Gibbs, who is now Obama’s press secretary. Now, he reports to Communications Director Ellen Moran. He is married to Sarah Feinberg, who is a senior aide to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Footnotes 1. Cilizza, Chris, The Washington Post, The Fix Blog, "Dunn Leaving White House, Pfeiffer Takes Over," November 10, 2009 2. Nicholas, Peter, The Los Angeles Times, "White House Communications Chief Anita Dunn to Depart," Nov. 11, 2009 3. “Sarah Feinberg, H. Daniel Pfeiffer,” The New York Times, July 16, 2006 4. Response to Whorunsgov.com questionnaire from Dan Pfeiffer on Feb. 6, 2009 5. Bacon Jr., Perry, “The Outsider’s Insider,” The Washington Post, Aug. 27, 2007 6. “Sen. Bayh makes changes in PAC, staff,” United Press International, March 1, 2005 7. Johnson, Annie and Symes, Frances, “People on the Move,” Congressional Quarterly Today, July 14, 2008 8. Sanginiti, Terri, “Del. Native to work in the White House,” The News Journal (Wilmington, Del.), Nov. 23, 2008 9. Nicholas, Peter, The Los Angeles Times, "White House Communications Chief Anita Dunn to Depart," Nov. 11, 2009 10. Rutenberg, Jim, “The New Team: Daniel H. Pfeiffer,” New York Times, Nov. 16, 2008 11. Dunn, Andrew, “Obama/Biden Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer talks to Rachel before the debate,” Air America, Oct. 15, 2008 12. Cohen, Sharon, “McCain gaffe opened door,” Richmond Times Dispatch (Va.), Nov. 6, 2008 13. Johnston, David Cay, “Who’s undercutting Obama?” Columbia Journalism Review, Jan. 29, 2009 14. Leibovich, Mark, “Between Obama and the press,” The New York Times, Dec. 21, 2008 Dan Pfeiffer currently serves as Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor. In January 2009, Pfeiffer joined the White House as Deputy Communications Director and became the Communications Director in December 2009. He first joined the President’s campaign as the Traveling Press Secretary and later became the Communications Director. Prior to working on the campaign, Pfeiffer previously worked for Vice President Al Gore, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and Senators Tim Johnson and Evan Bayh. A native of Wilmington, Delaware, Pfeiffer graduated from Georgetown University.