Via the Politico: Exclusive: Gibbs will be WH press secretary
Robert Gibbs, a top aide to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on his campaign and in his Senate office, will be named the White House press secretary, a top Democratic official said.
While I expect I will know him if I see him, the truth is the name conjures no information in my head.
Alabama readers will, however, find the following of interest:
Gibbs — a 37-year-old native of Auburn, Ala. — became familiar to viewers during the campaign for his sunny steeliness during frequent appearances on morning shows and A-list cable news programs.Sphere: Related Content
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November 7th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Gibbs was the press guy for Kerry’s presidential campaign (I don’t know if you call it a press secretary or spokesman or what the official name is - he was the guy who made the press releases and dealt with the media on Kerry’s behalf).
There was some controversy about Gibbs during the 2004 Democratic Primary, and that might be why his name rings a bell. For a while he was the spokesman for a 527. I think it was called Americans for Healthcare, Jobs, and Progressive Values - or something like that. The group ran some really nasty attack ads about Howard Dean. I think they ran the “Dean Scream” ads, and also an ad that featured Osama bin Laden that caused a lot of fuss and bother at the time. After that the Dean campaign tanked fast. Through the rest of the primary Kerry ran mostly positive ads; that 527 that Gibbs worked for was the attack dog, and did most of the dirty work and heavy lifting. I may have the sequence wrong, but I think what happened is that Gibbs worked for the 527 through the primary, then became Kerry’s press guy when Kerry got the nomination.
As I recall, Gibbs quit as Kerry’s press man at some point during the campaign, but I don’t remember why. I think it had to do with someone else either quitting or being fired. I remember because I was in library school at the time, and Kerry was a hero among librarians for his position against the library record provision of the Patriot Act, so there was much fuss and bother on campus about his campaign, and he was favored throughout the primaries by the library school.
Beyond that, I think Gibbs has worked as a political consultant for various democrats and their surrogate groups. I’m sure he probably Googles well.