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Alaska ties - Rouse’s deep-rooted links to state make him a key connection FROM JUNEAU TO OBAMA’S WEST WING
Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Sunday, February 22, 2009
Author: TOM KIZZIA tkizzia@adn.com ; Staff
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In 2004 Daschle lost a re-election bid and Rouse got ready to retire. Daschle and other democratic leaders pressed him to stay on and help Obama, who wanted Rouse as his Senate chief of staff.
The Illinois freshman finally persuaded him after saying three things, Rouse recalled: 1, Obama knew he was good at giving speeches but needed help organizing an office; 2, Obama needed a strategy for building respect as a new senator, avoiding the showboat traps; and 3, Rouse could ignore the speculation that he would run for president in 2008.
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Rouse helped prepare the strategy that guided the young senator through his first couple of years, then in 2006 drew up the key memo outlining the pros and cons of running for president.
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Rouse also brought a team of political veterans, many from the Daschle camp, into the Obama campaign.
“When Pete went to work for Barack, what Barack got — and I don’t think he realized it — was the only network in Democratic circles that from both a policy and political perspective came close to the Clinton network,” political consultant Anita Dunn told the Post recently.
By last August, Rouse had shifted to working full-time for the campaign. An Obama campaign trip to Alaska was almost a certainty, he said, until Gov. Sarah Palin was tapped for the Republican vice-presidential nominee. Pre-Palin, he said, the campaign felt it had a chance to win the heavily Republican state, based on the enthusiasm shown in caucuses for Obama.
PROBLEM SOLVER
It seems unlikely that Rouse will play the same role on Alaska issues he once did in the Senate. He’s just too high up the ladder, with the White House operations and policy branches both reporting through him.
“I fix problems,” he said, explaining his new role.
Still Alaska veterans in Washington are glad to have him there. A big fan was former Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, who praised Rouse on the Senate floor in 1999. Others interviewed in recent weeks, including John Katz, the longtime head of the state’s Washington office, spoke about his long value to Alaska.
It was because of Rouse that Obama was the only presidential candidate to speak about Alaska’s natural gas pipeline before the primaries began, said former Gov. Tony Knowles , a Democrat, who got help from Rouse during his unsuccessful 2004 campaign for the U.S. Senate.
“Pete’s very smart, highly skilled, and has always been totally square in our dealings,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said in January. “I expect we will agree on some issues and disagree on others, but having him at that level in the White House has to be good for our state.”
One of Rouse’s best friends in Alaska is state Sen. Kim Elton, D-Juneau. Rouse was the one who recruited Elton, a former journalist, into politics to work for Miller. Elton said Rouse is always eager for e-mailed photos of Romeo, the black wolf often photographed around Juneau.
Elton said he followed the presidential race through Rouse, backing Obama early on the strength of his friend’s endorsement. But he told Rouse he couldn’t talk about Palin once she was named to the Republican ticket. As chairman of the Legislative Council, Elton played a central role in the Legislature’s “Troopergate” investigation of the governor, which Republicans complained was being run by Obama supporters.
“It was awkward, because I usually love to talk about things like that,” Elton said.
When Elton and his wife traveled east for the inauguration, they stayed with Rouse. Now Elton is under consideration for a high-level appointment as a special assistant on Alaska issues in the Interior Secretary’s office.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/26/AR2007082601446.html
THE GURUS: PETE ROUSE
The Outsider’s Insider
By Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 27, 2007