Plouffe, Schmidt team up for new politics center at UD

David Plouffe and Steve Schmidt, rival political advisers from the 2008 campaign who both attended the university, are teaming up to help form a Center for Political Communications at the university

Provost Tom Apple announced the creation of the center Wednesday night during an appearance by Plouffe at Mitchell Hall. Plouffe, who served as President Barack Obama’s campaign manager, spoke as part of the semester-long lecture series “Assessing Obama’s First Year."

The center will focus on the study of politics and foreign policy and include research programs and major public events surrounding foreign policy and international relations, Apple said.

“In pursuing this objective, we will draw on the expertise of our own faculty and alumni, as well as distinguished visiting scholars,” he said.

Two of those visiting scholars are Plouffe and Schmidt, a senior adviser to Sen. John McCain’s 2008 campaign. Schmidt attended the university in the early 1990s, but left before graduating.

Plouffe, who is currently finishing his degree at the university after leaving a few credits short in 1988, said the center will help students understand the changing nature of political communications.

“We’ve seen a fascination in the private sector and in academic sectors to understand how communication is changing,” Plouffe said. “You guys are fortunate to be seeing that with your own eyes. For a long time, communication was fairly stagnant in this country.”

Not long ago, candidates only had to deal with three television stations and a handful of major newspapers, he said. Now, campaigns have to find a way to reach people who get their news from blogs, YouTube and text messages.

Plouffe said he and Schmidt hope the new center will help the university produce a new generation of political communicators.

“Some of you might see it my way, some of you might see it Steve’s way, but we need your talent, we need your involvement and I think the Center for Political Communications can be a really shining example of what this university can do,” he said.

Look for full coverage of this story in Tuesday's issue of The Review.

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