Tad Devine

Thomas A. "Tad" Devine (born June 11, 1955)[1] is an American political consultant. Devine was a senior adviser in Al Gore's 2000 and John Kerry's 2004 Presidential campaigns.[2] He was also the chief strategist for Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign.[3] He has worked on eleven winning campaigns for President and Prime Minister in Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, as well as seventeen winning U.S. Senate races.[4] Devine is currently the president of Devine Mulvey Longabaugh, a Washington D.C.-based media consulting firm. In October 2010, he was recognized as one of "the nation's most respected media consultants" by USA Today.[5]

Tad Devine
Born (1955-06-11) June 11, 1955
Providence, Rhode Island,
U.S.
EducationBrown University (BA)
Suffolk University (JD)
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)Ellen Devine
WebsiteOfficial website

Early life and education

Devine was born June 11, 1955 in Providence, Rhode Island. He grew up in South Providence and was raised as a Catholic. He attended the La Salle Academy. He received his A.B. in American history from Brown University, and his J.D. from Suffolk University School of Law. He is a member of the bar in Rhode Island and the District of Columbia.

Early career

From 1982-83 Devine served as a law clerk to the Rhode Island Superior Court, and from 1985-1987 he worked as an Associate Attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm of Winston & Strawn. From 1989-1990, he served as a Chief of Staff to the Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, Joseph R. Paolino Jr.

Political work

Democratic Party rules and delegate selection

Devine is considered one of the leading experts on the Democratic Party's presidential nominating process[6] and general election strategy.[7] In 1980, he worked on President Jimmy Carter's reelection campaign as a delegate tracker.[8] He went on to serve as Deputy Director of Delegate Selection in the nomination campaign of former Vice President Walter Mondale and Executive Assistant to the Campaign Manager in the 1984 general election.[9] [10]

Michael Dukakis campaign

From 1987-88, he served as Director of Delegate Selection and Field Operations in the nomination campaign of Governor Michael Dukakis. In 1992, Devine served as a member of the Democratic Party Rules Committee and was a consultant to CBS News throughout the Democratic National Convention in New York. As lead negotiator for the Dukakis campaign at the 1988 Rules Committee, Devine was involved in the Democratic party's 1988 reform that eliminated winner take all methods of delegate selection and established proportional representation as the exclusive system of delegate allocation in the Democratic Party.[11][12]

Campaign management

In the general election of 1988, Devine got his start managing national campaigns when he served as Campaign Manager for the Vice Presidential nominee, Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas.[13] In 1992, Devine served as Campaign Manager for Senator Bob Kerrey's campaign for President.[14][15]

Al Gore's presidential campaign

In the 2000 general election, Devine served as a senior strategist to the Gore/Lieberman campaign and oversaw the day-to-day management of the campaign.[16] Devine was recruited by Carter Eskew to join the campaign part-time in August 1999. In the fall of 1999 and early months of 2000, he was sent occasionally to Gore's campaign headquarters in Nashville as a trouble shooter when Gore was looking for an AFL-CIO endorsement and during the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. In the late spring and early summer of 2000, Devine shifted into a more central role in the campaign. He was recognized not only as a "fierce campaigner", but also as a "mediator among some of the factions that developed within the Gore campaign."[17] Upon his elevation, Devine helped put Democrats, who were nervous about Gore's success in the primary election against Bill Bradley, at ease. Devine, unlike other Gore advisers, suggested taking on Bradley by questioning his credentials as a Democrat. He also used his extensive knowledge of the Democratic party rules to help ensure Gore's victory in the primary by lobbying members of the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee to disallow any primaries in the five weeks between New Hampshire and Super Tuesday. His aim was to minimize Bradley's political momentum should he win the New Hampshire primary and maximize the effect a New Hampshire loss would have. Devine was also willing to put himself in the role of the contrarian, occasionally questioning Gore's recommendations and telling him when his opinion differed.[18]

John Kerry's presidential campaign

In 2003 and 2004, Devine served as a senior adviser and strategist to Senator John Kerry's campaign for President in both the primary and the general election.[19] His elevation to a senior strategic role coincided with Senator Kerry's turn around in late 2003, and Devine remained in a senior role throughout the remainder of the campaign. He frequently represented the campaign on national television programs such as Meet the Press, C-SPAN, Face the Nation and other broadcasts.[20][21]

Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign

Devine worked as chief campaign strategist for the Democratic primary campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders from 2015 until its suspension in 2016.[22]

Andrew Yang's presidential campaign

In 2019, Devine began working for the Democratic primary campaign of entrepreneur Andrew Yang until its suspension in 2020. [23]

Political media consulting

Since early 1993, Devine has worked as a media consultant, writing, directing and producing television and radio advertising for leading Democratic candidates in the U.S. and providing strategic advice for national campaigns in Europe, the Middle East and South America. Devine has worked on the winning campaigns of New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine in 2005, and several campaigns of senators, including Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), Bill Nelson (FL), Bernie Sanders (VT), John Kerry (MA) and the DSCC independent expenditure for the winning senate races of Claire McCaskill (MO) and Robert Menendez (NJ), as well as numerous statewide elections. Devine's work as a strategist and media consultant has been recognized by leading media and political consulting organizations. Devine has produced award-winning television advertising for Sen. Edward Kennedy (MA), Sen. John Edwards (NC), and Gov. Parris Glendening (MD).

Internationally, Devine has worked as a strategist and media consultant for the winning campaigns of Colombian President Andres Pastrana in 1998, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 1999, Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo in 2001, Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada in 2002, Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in 1997, 2002 and 2007, Honduran President Mel Zelaya in 2005, and Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions in 2006. Working closely with former Trump campaign manager, Paul Manafort (now a subject of the Mueller investigation of Trump's alleged coordination with Russia during his 2016 presidential campaign), Devine worked again with Yanukovych in 2009 and 2010 for his successful Presidential bid.[24] He served as a strategist and media consultant for Ashraf Ghani's 2009 presidential campaign in Afghanistan.[25]

In 2007, Devine joined with Julian Mulvey to form Devine Mulvey, a US and international political consulting firm offering strategic and communications advice to clients across the globe. Leading political organizations have recognized their work with several awards including best Internet ad in 2008 and best statewide ad in 2009. Devine Mulvey has multiple received Reed Awards from Campaigns and Elections Magazine, and multiple Pollie awards from the American Association of Political Consultants.[26][27]

In 2013, Mark Longabaugh joined the firm to form Devine Mulvey Longabaugh.

2018 Paul Manafort trial and work for Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych

On August 31, Devine was the first witness for the prosecution at the federal trial of Paul Manafort in UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. PAUL J. MANAFORT, JR., CASE NO. 1:18-CR-83-TSE.[28] [29]

At trial, Devine was questioned by prosecutors about his work with Manafort as a media consultant for the 2010 presidential campaign of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Devine reportedly stopped working for Yanukovych after his government's arrest of Yulia Tymoshenko in 2011. However, in 2014, he continued to negotiate with Manafort and Rick Gates to return as a consultant to a new European Union political party in Ukraine.[30]


Academic career

From 1991-1993, Devine served as Assistant to the President of Boston University. In addition to his duties in the President's office, Devine taught a course on presidential campaigns in the Department of Political Science and was a frequent university lecturer. He has also taught campaign management and strategy courses at the Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University. Devine wrote the chapter on "Paid Media – In an Era of Revolutionary Change" in the book Campaigns on the Cutting Edge (CQ Press, 2008) and on how Barack Obama won the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination in the book Campaigning for President (Routledge 2009). He also frequently lectures in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere. He has lectured at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government on numerous occasions and is a regular lecturer at the American University's Washington Internship Program and for the "Politics and Journalism Semester" program at the Washington Center for Politics & Journalism. He participates frequently in public fora, such as 2009's Bipartisan Policy Center's Inaugural Political Summit] at Tulane University, entitled "Taking the Poison Out of Partisanship.".[31]

In 2011, Tad Devine was a Fellow at John F. Kennedy School of Government. Devine led a study group at the Institute of Politics on American political consultants who work in foreign campaigns. While at the Kennedy School, Mr. Devine published an article in the Harvard International Review on restoring American political exceptionalism in the wake of the Bush presidency.

In 2013, Mr. Devine taught a course at New York University in Washington D.C. on media and strategy in domestic and international campaigns. In The fall of 2013, he taught a course on media and strategy at the University of Pennsylvania Washington Semester Program in Washington, DC.

Media appearances

Devine has appeared on television programs including Andrea Mitchell Reports,[32][33][34] Meet the Press, Face the Nation, and every major American network as well as the BBC and other foreign media outlets.[35][36] Devine was a guest on the Colbert Report twice, first on February 6, 2008, and later on May 29, 2008, to lend his expertise on superdelegates. Devine appears in the 2005 Rachel Boynton documentary Our Brand Is Crisis, which follows American political consultants including James Carville, Stan Greenberg, Jeremy Rosner, and Devine during the 2002 Bolivian presidential campaign.[37] He was a guest in a segment of The Daily Show on April 17, 2012[38] and in November 2012.

gollark: It really isn't. It's not end to end encrypted, they require pictures of you for "verification" for bots, and T&S can probably arbitrarily read any messages.
gollark: >criticizing someone for not maximizing privacy at all costs and ignoring tradeoffs
gollark: It's nice to at least *try* and preserve people's privacy or whatever.
gollark: Apparently there's some giant price fixing thing with diamonds.
gollark: Clearly we need some kind of orbital telescope network, so Pluto can have StreetView. Or self-replicating Plutonian rovers.

References
  1. U.S. Public Records Index Vol 1 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010.
  2. New York Times advertisement
  3. Washington Post
  4. Salon.com
  5. USA Today report on Devine Mulvey
  6. Time Magazine report on Devine
  7. The Weekly Standard coverage of Devine
  8. National Journal report on Devine
  9. New York Times report on Devine
  10. New York Times Tad Devine archive
  11. Devine Mulvey website (PDF)
  12. Devine Mulvey website (PDF)
  13. CBS News coverage on Devine
  14. New York Times coverage of Bob Kerrey's Vietnam history
  15. New York Times coverage of Kerrey's presidential campaign strategies
  16. Huffington Post coverage of 2000 general election
  17. New York Times coverage of Devine's work in the Bush/Gore 2000 election campaign
  18. Weekly Standard profile of Tad Devine's work in 2000 campaign
  19. George Washington University archive data on Senator John Kerry
  20. www.bing.com
  21. www.buyingofthepresident.org
  22. Eli Clifton and Joshua Holland (July 13, 2016), Bernie's fundraising was revolutionary. How he spent his millions was not., Slate
  24. Meyer, Theodoric (July 26, 2018). "Former Bernie Sanders consultant assisting Mueller investigation". Politico. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  25. Pendleton, Caitlin (October 31, 2011). "Posted in: Campus Tad Devine: An American Abroad". Harvard Political Review. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  26. "2017 Reed Award Winners". Campaigns and Elections. February 20, 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  27. Corn, David (June 26, 2015). "This Is Bernie Sanders' Plan to Beat Hillary Clinton". Mother Jones. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  28. https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000164-b049-d929-a5e4-b2f9d8e80000
  29. MacNeal, Caitlin (July 31, 2018). "Mueller Team Calls Dem Consultant Tad Devine As First Witness In Manafort Trial". Talking Points Memo. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  30. "Former Bernie Sanders consultant assisting Mueller investigation". POLITICO. Retrieved 2018-09-24.
  31. C-SPAN video
  32. nbcnews.com
  33. nbcnews.com
  34. nbcnews.com
  35. YouTube
  36. YouTube
  37. IMDb website
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