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Rich Beeson
| Rich Beeson | |||
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| Basic facts | |||
| Expertise: | Campaign management | ||
| Affiliation: | Republican | ||
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| Mitt Romney | |||
Rich Beeson is a Republican political operative. A Colorado native, Beeson was the deputy campaign manager for Marco Rubio's 2016 presidential campaign. He previously worked as Mitt Romney's (R) political director during his 2012 presidential campaign.[1][2]
Career
Rich Beeson worked as organizational director for Bruce Benson's (R) 1994 gubernatorial campaign in Colorado. From 1997 through 2005, he served as the Republican National Committee's (RNC) regional political director and regional finance director for the Western region.[3][1][4]
Beeson helped found FLS Connect, a voter contact firm that specializes "in creating cost-effective, customized voter contact programs."[1][5][4]
Beeson served as Mitt Romney's (R) political director during the former governor's 2012 presidential bid. According to The Washington Post, "As Romney's national political director in 2012, Beeson was credited with the campaign's primary state field efforts that helped Romney secure the nomination as well as the general election get-out-the-vote operations. He drew criticism for ORCA, the Romney campaign's voter data system that had serious technical problems on Election Day."[1][4]
Marco Rubio presidential campaign, 2016
- See also: Marco Rubio presidential campaign, 2016
On April 13, 2015, Rubio announced his presidential run on a conference call with donors.[6] In March 2015, The Washington Post noted that Beeson was likely to work on political and field operations during Rubio's campaign.[4] Beeson was one of several former Romney aides who lined up behind Rubio. "Rubio and his associates have spent months nurturing their relationships with Romney’s former advisers and donors, making the case for the senator in a series of conversations and meetings, all with the hope of slowly winning over Romney's inner circle. They have also been encouraged by the warm words of Spencer Zwick, a longtime Romney confidant who served as his national finance chairman," wrote The Washington Post. The paper also reported that Rubio sought counsel from former Romney policy aides.[4]
In an April 2015 piece in National Journal, Republican strategist Rick Wilson described the Rubio campaign approach as "playing Moneyball." Scott Bland, the author of the Journal article stated, "there’s more to the 'Moneyball' approach: It’s not just spending less, it’s using data to spend strategically."[7] The Rubio campaign's emphasis on using enhanced analytics to inform organizational priorities was met with praise in Republican circles. Stuart Stevens, a strategist with Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign, credited Beeson with creating the analytic models used in that campaign.[8] According to Stevens,[8]
| “ |
Every primary, Rich predicted the result before and was always right...His in-depth analytics then was tremendously important for us. [9] |
” |
Politico highlighted how these superior voter data and targeting analytics used by the Rubio campaign helped Rubio to achieve a third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, a result made all the more surprising by what U.S. News & World Report dubbed Rubio's "audacious proposition of de-emphasizing a robust boots-on-the-ground organizational presence ... in Iowa's ... nominating contest famous for its 99-county tours and up-close personal voter attention."[10] Defending the move to The Washington Post, Beeson said, "The days of having to have 50 field staffers and 25 offices are done. We can have a field office and staff set up in a Starbucks with wireless and get just as much done as we can in a brick-and-mortar office with land lines."[11]
Rubio suspended his presidential campaign on March 15, 2016.[12]
Recent news
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See also
- Marco Rubio
- Marco Rubio presidential campaign, 2016
- Marco Rubio presidential campaign key staff and advisors, 2016
- Mitt Romney
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Real Clear Politics, "Romney Locks in Beeson, Newhouse for '12 Bid," January 13, 2011
- ↑ Politico, "The power players behind Marco Rubio's campaign," April 13, 2015
- ↑ Marco Rubio for President, "Deputy Campaign Manager Rich Beeson," accessed May 27, 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Washington Post, "Marco Rubio lands another top Romney aide for likely 2016 campaign," March 12, 2015
- ↑ FLS Connect, "About," accessed May 26, 2015
- ↑ CNN, "He's in: Marco Rubio's presidential challenge," April 13, 2015
- ↑ National Journal, "Marco Rubio and the 'Moneyball' campaign," April 15, 2015
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Campaigns & Elections, "Organization and analytics help take down Trump in Iowa," February 2, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ U.S. News & World Report, "Trump, Cruz and Rubio: a tale of 3 campaigns," January 30, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "As Rubio moves up, fundraising and organization remain big challenges," October 21, 2015
- ↑ The New York Times, "Marco Rubio Suspends His Presidential Campaign," March 15, 2016
