Posted on 04/16/2008 8:49:51 AM PDT by vietvet67
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. He stands behind her, guarded and on the lookout. His head is turning left, then right, then left again, the way one watches a tennis match.
Philippe Reines could be mistaken for a Secret Service agent for Chelsea Clinton, the former first daughter who is anxious to regain that title. Now, as a crowd surrounds the youngest Clinton at a Marshall University campaign stop, Reines is on the lookout for hangers-on, swooning frat boys and, mostly, looming trouble in the form of microphones, cameras and notepads.
When sharp-elbowed television reporters manage to slip through the crowd and face Clinton, he reaches out his arm to shield the 28-year-old surrogate, points to the side of the room like a stone-faced traffic cop and tells the reporters, Ill talk to you over there. Far from Chelsea.
Since Clinton doesnt speak to reporters, Reines is her voice. When inquiring minds approach Clinton to say hello, she has been known to say, Have you met Philippe?
If I wasnt paid to talk to reporters, I wouldnt, either, said Reines, who has become the surrogates surrogate in the face of growing criticism that the campaign is protecting her like a child. Chelsea smartly knows that if she gives an inch of her privacy, she loses a foot.
Lately, college students in Chelseas audiences have been testing her limits with questions about her father, former President Bill Clinton, and his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. At first, Chelsea bristled at the comments. Now, she is prepared with a brief response.
Reines has been there for every awkward moment, helping keep the bubble surrounding Chelsea from popping. As Hillary Rodham Clintons longtime press-secretary-turned-senior-adviser, he is more than used to the tabloid headlines, the mobs of photographers who constantly chase the senator and the game of defense he must play to challenge the scrutiny.
I think its like being a hockey goalie, Reines said. Youre deflecting the puck with your stick, your face mask, your knees whatever works.
When you have a sentence or less to address unflattering situations, you need to make those words count, he added.
Lately, though, the 38-year-old spokesman has to make those words count for not one but two Clintons.
He is living a double life, carrying two sets of business cards and picking up paychecks from both the Senate and the campaign.
Reines may sport a sweater, jeans and a five oclock shadow when hes on the road with Chelsea, but hes still juggling his Senate responsibilities along with Sarah Gegenheimer, Clintons communications director.
And whenever Hillary Clinton takes a break from the trail and returns to the Hill, Reines always follows. Last week, as the senator questioned Army Gen. David Petraeus at an Armed Services Committee hearing, Reines was seated directly behind her.
Its rock, paper, scissors, Reines quips. Hillary trumps Chelsea.
Throughout the day, Reines stays in close touch with the travelling press aides to Hillary and Bill Clinton.
Although seemingly a natural fit, Reines wasnt considered for either of those jobs when they were filled last year. He dismisses the notion that any of the well-chronicled rifts within Hillaryland played any part in those decisions, saying, Were all in the roles that Sen. Clinton feels suit us best, and I love mine.
But campaign insiders say its no coincidence that Reines took on a more visible role on the Chelsea Clinton stump at about the same time Patti Solis Doyle was pushed aside as Clintons campaign manager. Aides say the two have had a very acrimonious relationship going back several years.
However he got there, Reines says time on the road with Chelsea offers a refreshing change from the life he has grown accustomed to in Washington. He now spends his days living out of a rolling bag (with as many clothes as I can jam in) and crisscrossing the country while visiting 33 states and more than 100 colleges. Together with Bari Lurie, a longtime Clinton aide who directs and manages the road show, Reines and Chelsea have logged more than 7,000 miles.
In the past two and a half months, he has been home 10 days.
Although Chelsea Clinton has become an indefatigable surrogate for her mother, engaging in lengthy question-and-answer sessions with students, she has been criticized for not speaking to the press. While Sen. Barack Obamas daughters have been off-limits to the press, theyre just 6 and 9.
Sen. John McCains 23-year-old daughter, Meghan, has made herself available to reporters, as did Mitt Romneys sons when their father was still in the race.
Chelsea Clinton, on the other hand, has erected a no-press wall so thick that in December she even refused to answer a question from a 9-year-old kid reporter from Scholastic News who asked whether she thought her father would be a good first man.
Im sorry, she told the child. I dont talk to the press, and that applies to you, unfortunately even though I think youre cute.
Reines explanation for the no-reporters rule: Everyone has a right to define their privacy, he said. I agree with what shes doing and how shes doing it. Then, pausing for a moment, he takes it a step further.
Every one of these events is open to the media, Reines added, his eyes spitting fire. Every word this woman is saying is on camera. What else would anyone want to know?
The situation blew up in February after MSNBCs David Shuster said that Chelsea Clinton was being pimped out by her parents for the campaign.
The comment incensed Reines, who immediately fired off an angry e-mail to Shuster, and their back-and-forth-BlackBerrying nastiness soon found its way to the Web. Looking back, Reines said he went from zero to 60 in the response because Shusters language really grabbed me.
Sometimes you really need to make a big deal about something like that, because if you dont, those moments keep happening, he said. We could either say, Oh well, thats the media, or we could say, Enough is enough.
Shuster was suspended, and Reines said he has no regrets. I would do it again, he said.
Over the years, Reines grating nature has rubbed some reporters the wrong way.
I havent exactly had the best experiences with Philippe, said one network correspondent who has worked closely with all the campaigns. Hes clearly power-hungry, a little too big for his britches, and he almost tries to browbeat you if he isnt happy with a story.
Another reporter who has dealt with Reines repeatedly said his highly controlling approach is probably what made Clinton choose him to be her daughters handler. Some press secretaries try to get their bosses in the paper as much as possible, the reporter said. Philippe tries to limit access and keep reporters as far away as possible.
The reporter said Reines is a master at using his BlackBerry as a defensive shield: Ask him four questions on his voice mail and youll get a pithy 12-word response on e-mail.
Reines roots are on New Yorks Upper West Side, where he was raised by his mother and grandmother and had a particular love of dodgeball. The spokesman said he had no idea he wanted to go into politics, and he had a late start in getting there. He stumbled in high school (I cut a lot of class) and through college, transferring to three different schools. In between, he worked on the trading desks of banks in Boston and New York.
He finally landed at Columbia University and spent two semesters in Beijing while learning Mandarin.
On the day he received his political science degree in 2000 at the age of 30 Reines packed his bags and moved to Nashville, Tenn., to work as a researcher on Al Gores presidential campaign. When Gore lost, Reines returned to New York in a funk.
I slept all day, I didnt shave, he said.
Then one day, someone suggested he apply to become Gores teaching assistant for his journalism class at Columbia. Reines got the job. Later, he worked on a mayoral campaign in New York. That led to a short-lived job working for Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) before Hillary Clinton came calling.
Reines was invited in for an interview, and Clinton hired him on the spot.
Ive been very lucky to have Philippe on my team on both defense and offense, through thick and through thin, the senator said. Philippe has been a pitch-perfect voice on my behalf and an increasingly close adviser whom I have grown to trust and depend on for the unvarnished truth dispensed with his trademark humor every single day.
Over the past six years, he has become a key adviser to her on Iraq issues and because of his quick wit for less weighty matters, like appearances on Saturday Night Live.
Hes always the person you go to when you need a funny line, said Howard Wolfson, the Clinton campaigns communications director.
Wolfson said Reines was the perfect choice to join Chelsea Clinton on the campaign trail. With Philippes help, Wolfson said, Chelseas appearances have been extremely positive for the campaign.
Chelsea Clinton through Reines, of course declined to answer questions for this story.
Who is her real daddy? I feel sorry that she looks so much like her parents.
That is hilarious!
She looks anorexic in that pic.
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