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Steve Hildebrand

Political consultant and co-founder of Hildebrand Strategies (since 2005)

(Elisha Page/TWP)

Why He Matters

Hildebrand is a lifelong political operative, part of that rare breed that has no interest in joining the administrations he helps put in place. But in early 2010, he considered in challenging Blue Dog Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (D-S.D.) over her opposition to President Obama's health-care reform package.

Since joining Tom Daschle's bid for 1986 Senate bid, Hildebrand has moved from campaign to campaign, focusing mainly on his home region: the Midwest. Hildebrand was called "one of the principal architects" of Obama's 2008 presidential campaign by The Washington Post and "Obama's secret weapon" by the Times of London. As Obama's 2008 deputy campaign manager, he developed the organization that proved so crucial first in Iowa and later around the country.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Deputy campaign manager for Barack Obama 's presidential campaign (2006 to 2008); Campaign manager for Sen. Tom Daschle (2003 to 2004); Campaign manager for Sen. Tim Johnson (2001 to 2002); State director for Iowa for Vice Presiden t Al Gore 's presidential campaign (1999 to 2000); EMILY's List (1997 to 1999); Political director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (1995 to 1996)
Birthday: Sept. 1
Hometown: Mitchell, S.D.
Alma Mater: South Dakota State University

Office: 326 E. 8th Street, Suite 105, Sioux Falls, S.D. 57103, 605-221-4363
Email
Web site

Path to Power

Hildebrand grew up in Mitchell, S.D., as the youngest of nine children. His father, who worked on road construction, died in an accident when Hildebrand was 5-years-old, leaving his mother to raise the children.

Hildebrand went to South Dakota State University. After college, he took a job with then-Rep. Daschle (D-S.D.) as state financial director during Daschle's successful 1986 Senate campaign. Hildebrand has worked on political campaigns ever since. He worked for Minnesota Attorney General Skip Humphrey (Democratic Farmer-Labor Party) in his 1988 bid for Senate, and Ted Muenster (D-S.D.) in a failed 1990 Senate bid. In 1994, he worked for unsuccessful South Dakota gubernatorial candidate Jim Beddow (D).

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In the 1996 election cycle, Hildebrand joined the Democratic National Committee as Midwest political director. He was also executive director of the Minnesota and South Dakota Democratic parties during that time. He worked the 1996 cycle as the political director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the 1998 cycle at the pro-abortion rights EMILY's List. In 2000, he worked as state director for Al Gore's presidential campaign in Iowa (a state where Gore won).

After the 2000 election, he moved back to South Dakota, where he helped Sen. Tim Johnson (D) get re-elected in 2002. Then, in 2004, he was campaign manager for then-Senate Minority Leader Daschle, who lost to Sen. John Thune (R), the same man who couldn't beat Johnson the cycle before.

After Daschle's loss, Hildebrand joined with fellow political consultant Paul Tewes to create Hildebrand-Tewes consulting in 2005. He took the reins of an issue campaign in South Dakota, successfully overturning an abortion ban that had passed in 2006.

Obama Campaign

Hildebrand knew a lot of the people in Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) office because of his work with Daschle. Obama's Senate Chief of Staff Pete Rouse, who was previously Daschle's chief of staff, asked Hildebrand to staff an Obama speech in September 2006, when Obama was beginning to test the waters for a run. After that, all of the other Democratic candidates offered Hildebrand a job with their campaigns. Hildebrand stayed in touch with Obama and at the end of 2006, the Democratic campaign guru began talking seriously with a half-dozen others about the possibility of an Obama presidential bid.

In 2007, when Obama decided to run for president, both Hildebrand and Tewes took leave from their consulting shop to join his team, Hildebrand as deputy campaign manager and Tewes as the state director for Iowa. Obama shocked everyone at the Democratic caucuses in Iowa, winning 38 percent of the vote compared with 30 percent for ex-Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) and 29 percent for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). Hildebrand worked closely with Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, helping to devise Obama's 50-state strategy that saw the campaign play in states often ignored by Democrats, register a record number of new voters and generate huge turnout.

After Obama's victory, Hildebrand was mentioned as a possible replacement for Howard Dean as the head of the Democratic National Committee, but he instead went back to Hildebrand Tewes consulting. "I'm returning to Hildebrand Tewes to work on a variety of issues that will be debated before the new Congress and [are] important to our new president," Hildebrand told The Washington Post in an e-mail.

One of the first issues Hildebrand chose to work on was climate change. He joined forces the Alliance for Climate Protection, the organization chaired by former Vice President Al Gore. "The Alliance has brought on Hildebrand to help oversee the expansion of the campaign," the group said. "We're pulling in other presidential campaign-level talent to fill out the rest of the team. It's going to be a serious operation."

The Issues

After Obama's 2008 victory, The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza called Hildebrand and Tewes two of the biggest winners of the 2008 election. "It's hard to find two more self-deprecating political operatives than Hildebrand and Tewes - the duo who helped build and execute the massive ground operation that led Obama to victory in the primary season and to wins in closely contested general election states like Florida, Ohio and Virginia." He called the ground game "THE story of the post election analysis."

For the stunning win by the first-term Illinois senator, Hildebrand credits Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, chief strategist David Axelrod and his team of organizers "who are a lot smarter than me." But Hildebrand has gotten credit for creating a state-of-the-art political operation in all 50 states during the 2008 campaign, even if those states typically voted Republican. This "50-state strategy," as it was dubbed, helped Obama win 847 delegates on Super Tuesday , 13 more than Clinton, despite the fact that Clinton won the big states like California, New York and New Jersey.

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"We have competed in large and small states - primaries and caucuses - and not let any state go by," Hildebrand said. "It's beyond me why the Clinton campaign did not do the same."

An unapologetic "McGovern" liberal, Hildebrand says he has no interest in being like GOP political guru Karl Rove. "Rove built an image for himself as the guy who got Bush elected twice," he said. "Sure - and then they went forward to destroy the country." He quipped that the 2008 election would be his last because of the necessity of registering millions of new voters, giving the Democrats a permanent advantage.

In the spring of 2008, Hildebrand brought volunteers from around the country to a meeting where they brainstormed about which primary strategies were applicable to the general election and which were a waste of time. The Obama campaign got phone numbers and e-mail addresses from volunteers every step of the way. They used large events at the Democratic National Convention and over Labor Day weekend to attract thousands of volunteers and register millions of voters.

Iowa Caucuses

Obama's victory at the first actual test of voter support in the Iowa caucuses turned Obama from a candidate to a frontrunner. Hildebrand described that experience as "a long, 12-month process building support from the bottom up. People really didn't know much about Barack. It was important for us to get him in front of as many people as possible. It was important to educate them about his background, what he has done, what he plans to do as president, the kind of person he is."

The other important element to the Iowa victory (campaign manager David Plouffe was determined to keep Obama focused on Iowa early rather than use a broad strategy), was turnout. Hildebrand's strategy placed a huge emphasis on the Internet and volunteers who could help the cause from around the country. Volunteers were given lists of potential voters and were told to use Facebook and text messages as well as phone calls and, of course, door-to-door visits to distribute important information regarding caucus sites and the candidate. Hildebrand called it "the largest grass-roots volunteer operation that Iowa has ever seen."

Post-Election Work

After Obama's 2008 victory, Hildebrand said he wasn't interested in joining the new administration. But he still planned to work on important campaigns around the country. "I want to help him [Obama] get some resolution to the climate crisis, help him pass this economic stimulus plan, help my old boss, Tom Daschle, help Barack Obama get health care for all Americans," he said. "I want to be an advocate on the outside, but I'm not planning to seek [a job] in Washington."

Hildebrand has signed on with the Alliance for Climate Protection, where he will work on the grassroots campaign to call for climate change fixes from the state level.

The Network

During the 2008 campaign, Hildebrand reported to campaign manager David Plouffe and senior adviser David Axelrod. He also worked with Iowa state director Paul Tewes, a longtime colleague, to develop the get-out-the-vote effort in Iowa.

Because of his work with Sen. Tom Daschle, Hildebrand is a familiar face to many top officials in the Obama political and policy network, many of whom are now in the White House. He worked on Daschle's 2004 Senate campaign with top Obama White House aides Pete Rouse, Dan Pfeiffer, Phil Schiliro, Sarah Feinberg, Chris Lu and others. DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse was at the DSCC during that 2004 election cycle. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was press secretary for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during the 2002 cycle, when Hildebrand was running Sen. Tim Johnson's (D-S.D.) re-election campaign.

Campaign Contributions

Hildebrand has personally donated $20,000 to political campaigns since 2000. All of it went to either Democratic candidates or left-leaning groups like the DNC and EMILY's List.

Additional Resources

Center for Responsive Politics
Chibbaro Jr., Lou, "Obama names 7 gays to transition team," Washington Blade, Nov. 19, 2008
Slevin, Peter and Vargas, Jose Antonio, "Obama tries new tactics to get out vote in Iowa," The Washington Post, Dec. 31, 2007
Horowitz, Jason, "The Hildebrand Manifesto," New York Observer, July 20, 2008
Rothenberg, Stuart, "The real fight in South Dakota pits Hildebrand, Wadhams," Roll Call, May 3, 2004
Cillizza, Chris, "The Fix: 2008 election: Winners and losers," WashingtonPost.com, Nov. 5, 2008
"Voices Newsmaker Interview: South Dakotan helped manage historic campaign," Argus Leader (Sioux Falls, S.D.), Jan. 25, 2009
Plunkett, Chuck, "Obama's price is activism," The Denver Post, July 24, 2008
Allen, Mike, "Mike Allen's Playbook: Hildebrand joins Alliance for Climate Protection to start state-based push," Politico.com, March 24, 2009
Rothenberg, Stuart, "The real fight in South Dakota pits Hildebrand, Wadhams," Roll Call, May 3, 2004
Preston, Mark, CNN's Political Ticker, March 17, 2010
Bacon Jr., Perry, "The Outsider's Insider," The Washington Post, August 27, 2007
Harriman, Peter, "S.D. consultant wins big in Iowa," Argus Leader (Sioux Falls, S.D.), Jan. 5, 2008
Cillizza, Chris, "The Fix: Hildebrand returns to the private sector," WashingtonPost.com, Dec. 16, 2008
Baldwin, Tom, "Obama's secret weapon plots a new course for election victory," The Times (London), Feb. 16, 2008
Harriman, Peter, "S.D. consultant wins big in Iowa," Argus Leader (Sioux Falls, S.D.), Jan. 5, 2008

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