http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/02/05/mandy-grunwald-to-join-clinton-team/5:41 pm ET 5:41 pm ET
By Jonathan Martin
Mandy Grunwald, an adviser to the Clintons for over two decades and a top strategist to Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, is expected to serve as a senior adviser for communications to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s all-but-certain presidential bid.
Ms. Grunwald will advise Mrs. Clinton on strategy and make some of the television ads along with Jim Margolis, whose firm, GMMB, is expected to take the lead on producing and buying the commercials. The pollster Joel Benenson is another senior adviser poised to work for Mrs. Clinton on her second White House run.
Ms. Grunwald, an original member of Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign team who also worked on Mrs. Clinton’s 2008 White House bid, represents a nod to continuity after a stream of recent stories about Mrs. Clinton’s plans to hire advisers close to her one-time rival for the White House, President Obama. Mrs. Clinton’s camp has put out word that she will look to Mr. Margolis, Mr. Benenson, Robby Mook, John D. Podesta and Jennifer Palmieri — each of whom has worked or now works for Mr. Obama — to build her campaign. (Some of them, it should be noted, also have ties to the Clintons.)
The move to bring Ms. Grunwald onto the nascent campaign also underscores how unlikely it is that Ms. Warren will run for president. Ms. Grunwald produced Ms. Warren’s TV ads in her 2012 Senate campaign, and the two remain close; Ms. Grunwald hosted a book party last year to celebrate the release of Ms. Warren’s autobiography.
The decision to tap Ms. Grunwald, as well as Ms. Palmieri as communications director, could also address questions about gender diversity in Mrs. Clinton’s still-developing campaign team. Mrs. Clinton has a number of women in her inner circle, including Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin, but grumbles have been growing louder in recent weeks from some female Democratic operatives about the number of men who appear bound to take senior roles on Mrs. Clinton’s likely campaign.
Ms. Grunwald counts a number of Democratic senators as her clients and is particularly close to several women in the Senate, including Senators Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, who was one of the only Democratic senators last year to fend off a Republican challenge.
