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As the knock-down drag-out race for the Democratic presidential nomination wears on, LGBT political insiders have begun speculating about possible administration gigs. If Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton goes on to win in November, who might the new president tap for high-level appointments or key White House staff? The Advocate offers a sneak peek at a few of the contenders for both camps -- and a couple of unaffiliated talents either candidate may draft.
OBAMA'S POTENTIAL PICKS
Steve Hildebrand, political strategist
Campaign role: deputy national campaign manager
A longtime confidant of former Senate majority
leader Tom Daschle and an early Obama booster,
Hildebrand was Midwest political director for the
Democratic National Committee and political director for the
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. In 2005 he
launched a consulting firm with politico Paul Tewes.
Jeremy Bernard and Rufus Gifford, cofounders, B+G
Associates
Campaign role: financial consultants
This duo oversees fund-raising for Obama in
California. Bernard worked on Bill Clinton’s
first presidential campaign and was a delegate to the
1996, 2000, and 2004 Democratic National Conventions and
will be there this year; Gifford is a former movie
industry executive who raised $30 million as the
DNC’s deputy finance director for western states
during John Kerry’s 2004 campaign.
Matt Nosanchuk, counsel to Sen. Bill Nelson
Campaign role: convener of Obama’s LGBT Policy
Committee, member of his National LGBT
Leadership Council
Before working in the Senate, Nosanchuk was a
senior policy fellow for Third Way, founding the
progressive think tank’s gay equality initiative.
He also had stints at the House Judiciary Committee and the
Justice Department.
Stampp Corbin, technology executive and
entrepreneur
Campaign role: member of National LGBT Leadership Council
Corbin’s history with Obama dates back to
his Chicago childhood, when he and Michelle Obama were
schoolmates; years later, the three attended Harvard
together. The founder of technology firms RetroBox and
Resource One, Corbin was a national adviser to the
Small Business Administration under President Clinton.
Tobias Wolff, University of Pennsylvania law
professor
Campaign role: chair of Obama’s LGBT Policy
Committee
Wolff is an expert on civil procedure and
constitutional law who has consulted on major class
action proceedings and is on the executive board of
the Equal Justice Society. Before his academic career, he
was a litigator at the blue-chip firm Paul, Weiss.
Also in the running…
Eric Stern, associate director, career development,
University of California, Berkeley, law school
Stern has been executive director of
National Stonewall Democrats and head of the
DNC’s LGBT outreach program. Before endorsing Obama
he was an adviser to John Edwards’s campaign.
David Mixner, political strategist and activist
Mixner, an unofficial adviser to elected
officials and business leaders on domestic and foreign
policy for decades, became a prominent Obama supporter
after Edwards bowed out. He was national chairman for Rep.
Richard Gephardt’s 2004 presidential campaign and a
key player in Bill Clinton’s first White House
run.
Ben LaBolt, campaign spokesman
Before joining the campaign, LaBolt worked in Obama’s
Senate office, and he’s a former aide to
Democratic congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois.
He also put in time on Howard Dean’s 2004 campaign
and at the DNC.
Kevin Jennings, executive director, Gay, Lesbian,
and Straight Education Network
Jennings, a former high school history teacher, founded
GLSEN in 1990.
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