Obama Hires Clinton-Gore Pollster Joel Benenson

[jefferson_dem]

Obama Hires Clinton-Gore Pollster Joel Benenson
By Greg Sargent | bio

An Obama source confirms to Election Central that Barack Obama's Presidential campaign has just made two key hires: It has enlisted top Democratic pollster Joel Benenson, who managed Clinton-Gore's polling operation in 1996, and has signed up operative Ertharin Cousin as a senior adviser to the campaign.

Benenson -- who's worked on scores of campaigns and heads the five-year-old Benenson Strategy Group -- is a key get for the Obama campaign. In addition to having been a key pollster for Bill Clinton's reelection campaign, he was also coveted for his successful record in the 2006 Congressional races, the Obama source tells us.

"He won eight of the ten races that he was working on -- three in which Republican incumbents were defeated," the source tells us. "He's one of the best out there. We absolutely wanted to have him on board."

Benenson joins an Obama polling team that also includes Cornell Belcher and Paul Harstead. Benenson will be in charge of polling for the key primary state of New Hampshire, while Belcher will poll South Carolina and Harstead will poll Iowa.

<SNIP>

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/feb/20/obama_hires_clinton_gore_pollster_joel_benenson

[PresidentObama]

1. Good pick up for Obama n/t