Friday, February 26, 2010

Will Julianna Smoot Replace Desiree Regers?



ABC's Jake Tapper just Tweeted: "New WH Social Secretary likely to be Dem fundraiser/US Trade Rep chief of staff Julianna Smoot." Smoot was national finance director for 2008 presidential campaign of then-Sen. Barack Obama, raising millions. From WashPo:

"On a frigid day in early January, Barack Obama rode the three blocks from the Capitol to a nondescript, four-story, white-brick building where he had rented a spartan office suite.

Obama pulled out a folding chair and sat down with Julianna Smoot, the veteran Democratic fundraiser he had hired to raise the millions of dollars he would need for a presidential bid. Smoot thumbed through a thin list of potential donors that Obama had gathered during his 2004 Senate bid in Illinois and as he helped other politicians raise money for elections in 2006. She frowned.

"It wasn't much to work with," Smoot recalled. "But that was how we started. He asked me what he should do, and I said, 'Start calling. And don't forget to ask for their credit card numbers.' "


The WH Social Secretary is sort of the arbiter elegantiae of the White House. It is a job that comes with perks, like a high social profile, attendance at all state dinners and a large role in the shaping of the legacy of the White House. Letetia Baldridge was the Social Secretarty in the Kennedy White House.

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