J.B. Poersch, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the past three cycles, has joined SKDKnickerbocker as managing director of its Washington, D.C., office.
Prior to joining the DSCC for the 2006 cycle, Poersch was chief of staff to Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) for 14 years and worked on Democratic presidential campaign efforts in Ohio for the 2000 and 2004 elections.
“J.B. has more experience running winning campaigns than anyone in the country,” SKDK Managing Director Bill Knapp said in a release.
SKDK is a top political consulting and strategic communications firm that cuts TV, radio and web ads, as well as direct mail, for mostly Democratic candidates, officials and committees.
Presidential Hopefuls Staff Up
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty hired veteran Iowa operative Eric Woolson, the Washington Post reported.
Woolson led former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) to a surprising victory in the state in the 2008 caucuses. He is a former journalist who has worked for several high-profile candidates, including President George W. Bush in 2000, former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
Jim Dyke, a veteran GOP political operative in South Carolina, signed on with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour’s political action committee as a communications adviser. Dyke’s hire is seen as yet another move toward an eventual Barbour presidential bid.
According to a press release, Dyke “has worked on four presidential campaigns, managed a Congressional campaign and served as a communications adviser to Bush and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.”
Dyke also served as press secretary and communications director at the Republican National Committee in the 2004 cycle before opening his own firm the next year.
“Haley is delighted to have someone as talented as Jim Dyke joining his team to help us managed the increased national media interest and demand in the Governor,” Haley’s PAC Treasurer Henry Barbour said in a statement. “Jim’s knowledge and experience will prove invaluable to Haley in the coming few months.”
Lincoln Park Adds Coloroso
Lincoln Park Strategies announced Tuesday the hiring of Christina Coloroso as an analyst.
Coloroso, who spent the last five months of the 2010 cycle on the staff of the since-disbanded MSHC Partners, “will focus mainly on our political and issue advocacy clients,” a release stated.
Previously, Coloroso, who graduated from the University of Utah, worked on a mayoral campaign in Salt Lake City and a state legislative campaign.
Coloroso earned a master’s degree in political strategy from the Georgetown Public Policy Institute in 2010.
Palacio Leaves Hill for Colorado
Rick Palacio was elected chairman of the Colorado Democratic Party last weekend at the annual Jefferson-Jackson Day gathering in Denver. Palacio, 36, will leave his Capitol Hill gig as deputy director of Member services in the office of Minority Whip Steny Hoyer. After three years with the Maryland Democrat, Palacio will take over a state party coming off mixed 2010 election results.
He is a Colorado native and worked for then-Rep. John Salazar (D-Colo.) before moving to Hoyer’s office. A spokesman there said Palacio will be transitioning back to Colorado over the coming weeks.
Lois Lerner, director of exempt organizations for the IRS, arrives for a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the investigation of the IRS' targeting of political groups. Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment right to not testify and caused a protest from some committee members when she offered an opening statement and engaged in dialogue with members before invoking the right.
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