| It felt like we connectedwe went over our allotted time, and I had another beer, and by the end I had shifted from very skeptical to only moderately skeptical, just maybe seeing a lane for his candidacy. Oh really, you didnt know that? When you do more interviews, it reduces that gotcha instinct with the press, it reduces that cat and mouse game. [Smiths voice breaks here.] Smith: We check in here and there. 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. Oftentimes its not going to be found in Washington, D.C. The Post ran the exclusive photos of Spitzer ducking in and out of the Soho walk-up. A New York Post photographer had been surreptitiously posted outside my SoHo walkup apartment. Maybe a story that would be 80-20 bad you can get down to 60-40 bad, and that little bit is worth it.. Weve seen a lot of cataclysmic things happen. Hold on, Im sorry. Other people could blame it on naivete, I cant.. A report by New York Attorney General Letitia James showed that Smith was working behind the scenes to protect Cuomo from the allegations. And no, politics is my love. David Freedlander writes about politics and culture. But more broadly, they are diagnosing the ills of the party that paid their housing for years. The good candidates have humility. Did I think I was going to walk into his office and tell him that I was dating Eliot Spitzer? A few weeks ago, a couple of hundred people expressed interest in this event. POLITICO Weekend flies into inboxes every Friday. . The photographer had captured Eliot and me exchanging loving looks as wed returned from a late-night dinner at a restaurant on my block.. Its a local-politics mentality to find the people that are going to be telling this story, and if nothing else, making sure they have a real understanding of who you are. Between 1987 and 2013, Spitzer had been married to Silda Wall Spitzer. I worked in politics nine years before I ever moved to New York. Thats a pretty ballsy thing to do. Some are even in the White House, like Deputy Press Secretary Chris Meagher, who briefed the press not too long ago. But that didnt work out. Wren: I want a window into how you advise candidates amid a crisis. 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. Political strategist Lis Smith isnt a married woman, though she may one day decide to tie the knot with a lucky somebody. I romanticize it. Click here. Wren: Youre often credited with vaulting Pete from the mayor of Indianas fourth-largest city to a member of Bidens cabinet. What is Lis Smiths secret sauce? Buttigiegs rise from unlikeliest of contenders to actual top-tier presidential candidate has been fueled in part, maybe in large part, by his astonishing success courting the press. Now more than ever, people are seeing politics touch everything in our lives. Political strategist Lis Smith reveals in her new book how The Post exposed that she was dating prostitution-loving former Gov. I was also reckless. But another thing is that Im not someone whos just worked in New York. "[29] Lloyd Green, writing for The Guardian, called it "breezy and informative. | I want him on everything, she told me. Otherwise, I would kill myself. Which is to say that Buttigieg may know seven languages and carry around Ulysses and sit in with the South Bend Orchestra on piano, but as far as his top aide is concerned, it is only because he has an extra year on her. Shes on her phone talking to another Buttigieg aide. The Simpsons actress Yeardley Smith is newly married and she and her husband have quite the . Because it would drive me nuts during the campaign hearing all his wonky, wonky talk about infrastructure, about roads, about smart sewers. The final indignity, she said, is that de Blasios team team wanted the statement to say her departure was unrelated to her dating Spitzer. And so, she says, she cant talk right now. He is in talks to do a Fox News town hall in the coming weeks, building off the surprise success of Bernie Sanders appearance on Fox, and in the past couple of weeks has also been on Ellen and The View, as well as Preet Bhararas podcast, The Intercepts podcast and The New Yorkers podcast. And you know what their problem is? 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. We needed to be the antidote to him. And it was a running joke between us: I was like, I cant listen to you talk about smart sewers one more time, or I will lose my mind. He loves that stuff. Id worked for former [Former Maryland Gov.] [7] As communications director for the DGA, she oversaw gubernatorial campaign efforts in Kentucky and West Virginia. 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. In 2001, she graduated Bronxville High School. Wren: Theres a part of Pete that is a little wonky, a little square. 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. I was coming off some New York races where everything is just all-day personal attacks getting in the mud. Smith marched him to the front of where the national and New York press were gathered, telling him, Are you ready for your first gaggle? He stayed until the matter was exhausted. Smith: Joey Burrow is an incredible leader. Wren: Did you have a good handle before the campaign on Petes vulnerabilities? POLITICO Weekend delivers gripping reads, smart analysis and a bit of high-minded fun. Even in decline, AM radio matters more than you might think. [5] In 2009, she became press secretary for Terry McAuliffe and Jon Corzine's gubernatorial races before moving on to becoming the communications director for Ted Strickland's 2010 Ohio governor's race. Smith shot down a Post story claiming Sptizer was spotted kissing and sucking her toes while she was topless in a hot tub at a resort there. I dont live and breathe politics every day. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. So it was just sort of the perfect confluence of all these things where that yin and yang dynamic got us together. It takes the edge off a bit. Keep in mind she was 22 at the time, Smith said. | 20172020 Pete Buttigieg presidential campaign, Pete Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign, Martin O'Malley 2016 presidential campaign, Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service, "On the Ground With Lis Smith, the Political Pro Who Invented 'Mayor Pete', "A Tabloid Bashing, and a Lost Job With the Mayor", "Virginia Politics Blog - McAuliffe Adds Press Secretary", "To Know Mayor Pete, Look at His Top Adviser's Underreported Past", "Mayor Pete Buttigieg Is Even Worse Than He Seems", "Knowing the Buttiverse: We're tracking 101 ex-staffers from Secretary Pete's 2020 campaign and where they are now", "The Women Running Presidential Campaigns Give Us a Behind-the-Scenes Look at Life on the Trail", "10 of the most powerful women who are running the 2020 presidential campaigns from behind the scenes", "Lis Smith | 2020 40 under 40 in Government and Politics", "GU Politics announces fall fellows to celebrate its fifth anniversary", "Andrew Cuomo's Smear Team: His Brother and Top Advisers, Transcripts Reveal", "The Moment Cuomo Adviser Lis Smith Says MSNBC Anchor Katy Tur Repeated Her 'Spin' On Air", "In crisis PR mode, Lis Smith told top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa to 'just have your fucking assistant text people' and 'this is insane' as sexual harassment scandal blew up", "The Michigan Democrat Who Could Solve Her Party's Identity Crisis", "Lis Smith dishes on love of political combat in new book", "Two New Memoirs Detail the Threats to American Democracy", "Confessions of a Political Swashbuckler", "Welcome to the new era of political memoir", "Any Given Tuesday: Lis Smith on Cuomo, Spitzer and a political life", "Opinion | Lis Smith's self-serving story about Andrew Cuomo", "Let's Hear From the Women Lis Smith Smeared", "Opinion | 'The G.O.P. The American, democratic campaign communication specialist Lis Smith is a well-known face in American politics. Published on July 13, 2022 06:12 PM. Click here. How much of his success was because of you, and how much was because of him? Smith, standing behind Buttigieg as he campaigns at various events in New York this April. She ran his campaign publicly by courting the national political press, a technique she further honed during Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign. People get stuck in a rut because something worked last cycle, and so they think it will work this cycle and it doesnt. He was a once-in-a-generation talent, someone who perfectly met the moment. You never get in a fight with someone whos trying to promote a book. 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. She is the most competitive person I have ever known.. Smith: All the good candidates are comfortable in their own skin. I thought you had cancer or something. He motioned to the bartender again`Well take two shots of Jameson on top of that roundbefore turning back to me and clearing his throat. Letting Terry be Terry. Smith is a fierce New York City-based Democratic operative who helped engineer the plan to get Buttigieg in front of not just national political reporters, but anybody with a camera or microphone. What we did is fucking ridiculous. But its not just about the 18-year-old girl. That cut both ways during the campaign for Buttigieg, particularly when a white police officer killed a Black man in South Bend. Smith said she felt violated after learning she was being followed. I was making the bet that I could run out the clock on disclosing our relationship until I got hired officially. Smith: I think a lot of people get a very one-dimensional view of me. Fantasy football we were competitive about that. Smith-Petersen held a protective arm around Keough's, 33, waist as he supported the actress on her first red carpet since the sudden death of her mother Lisa Marie Presley last month. Most people do have earnest sides to them. The attack we had been dreading was coming. Lis knew that she had to build wide to build up, said Stephanie Cutter, who also worked on Obamas 2012 effort. Jul. Smith starts texting me, wanting to know if Id seen the celebrities in the audience, including George Takei, Kal Penn and Kate McKinnon. She led Buttigieg on a series of one-on-one meetings over beer, coffee, lunch or cigars with what used to be known as the Gang of 500those reporters, producers and pundits who shape much of the nations political coverage. Why do I fucking love John McCain? Smith: It made me want to be better at my job. Theres the article in the Atlantic where the writer met the mayor of South Bend, Indiana for a chicken tempura lunch in Manhattan. Lis Smith is recording this call. Theyre out in country working on campaigns. [20] She was a senior advisor on Corey Johnson's 2021 campaign for New York City Comptroller, and raised $3.5 million in funds for a PAC supporting Andrew Yang's 2021 mayoral campaign. But to me it was more just revealing [the] nature of the sliding doors of campaigns, and I think thats what youre getting at. I had to deal with candidates who, unfortunately, did not give me all the facts, and you cant effectively handle a crisis. I knew from the beginningthat our relationship would be a big tabloid story when it became public. It meant a lot to me as a woman to have someone like that. Your knowledge of the process? And maybe I shouldve gone to law school. They have grown to like and trust each other. Because something worked last cycle, and how much of his success was of. Worked in politics nine years before I ever moved to New York Post photographer had been to! 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