Posted on 09/08/2004 9:22:11 AM PDT by RWR8189
ARLINGTON -- Bush-Cheney '04 today announced the members of its Debate Negotiations Team. The team, lead by James A. Baker, III, will represent Bush-Cheney '04 in negotiations of the terms of the presidential debates between President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry and between Vice President Dick Cheney and Senator John Edwards. "We are honored that Secretary Baker will lead negotiations on behalf of our campaign. I am confident that he and the other seasoned members of our team will conduct negotiations in a thoughtful manner to ensure a robust debate of the critical issues facing our country," said Bush-Cheney '04 Campaign Chairman Governor Marc Racicot. Members of the Bush-Cheney '04 Debate Negotiations Team include: James A. Baker, III, Robert B. Zoellick, Haley Barbour, Allan B. Hubbard, Karen Hughes and Mary Matalin. Biographies for each member of the team follow. #### James A. Baker, III has served in senior government positions for three United States Presidents. He served as the nation's 61st Secretary of State from January 1989 through August 1992 under President George Bush. During his tenure at the State Department, Mr. Baker traveled to 90 foreign countries as the United States confronted the unprecedented challenges and opportunities of the post Cold War era. In 1995, Mr. Baker published The Politics of Diplomacy, his reflections on those years of revolution, war and peace. Mr. Baker served as the 67th Secretary of the Treasury from 1985 to 1988 under President Ronald Reagan. As Treasury Secretary, he was also Chairman of the President's Economic Policy Council. From 1981 to 1985, he served as White House Chief of Staff to President Reagan. Mr. Baker's record of public service began in 1975 as Under Secretary of Commerce to President Gerald Ford. It concluded with his service as White House Chief of Staff and Senior Counselor to President Bush from August 1992 to January 1993. Long active in American presidential politics, Mr. Baker led presidential campaigns for Presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush over the course of five consecutive presidential elections from 1976 to 1992. Robert B. Zoellick assumed office as the 13th U.S. Trade Representative on February 7, 2001. During his tenure, he worked with Congress to pass the Trade Act of 2002, which revived Trade Promotion Authority, and launched the new round of global trade negotiations in November 2001. He completed Free Trade Agreements with twelve countries –Chile, Jordan, Singapore, Australia, Morocco, Bahrain, the Dominican Republic and five nations in Central America and launched FTA negotiations with ten countries – Panama, Thailand, three Andean countries and the five countries of the Southern African Customs Union. He was also instrumental in the ratification of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Acceleration Act. During President George H.W. Bush's Administration, Mr. Zoellick served with Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, as Under Secretary of State for Economic and Agricultural Affairs, as well as Counselor to the Department (Under Secretary rank). He served as the senior U.S. official in the German unification negotiations and worked closely with Secretary Baker on policies pertaining to the end of the Cold War. Haley Barbour is the 63rd Governor of Mississippi. He was elected on November 4, 2003, in the largest turnout in a gubernatorial election in state history. Before being elected Governor, Haley Barbour founded and served as Chairman and CEO of Barbour Griffith and Rogers, which Fortune magazine ranked the nation's top lobbying firm. From 1993 to 1997, he served two terms as Chairman of the Republican National Committee. While he was Chairman, the GOP won control of both Houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years. In the mid-1980's, he advised President Ronald Reagan as Director of the White House Office of Political Affairs. Allan B. Hubbard is President of E&A Industries, Inc. which owns three specialty chemical companies in Indianapolis and a light fixture company based in Chicago. During 1993 and 1994, Mr. Hubbard served as the volunteer chairman of the Indiana State Republican Party. From 1990 to 1992, Mr. Hubbard served as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States and Executive Director of the President's Council on Competitiveness. Karen Hughes served as Counselor to The President for his first eighteen months in the White House. During her tenure in the Bush White House, Mrs. Hughes advised the president on a wide range of issues, crafted the communications and message strategy for the administration and was responsible for overseeing the Offices of Press Secretary, Media Affairs, Speechwriting and Communications. She helped develop and lead the international communications effort during the early months of the war against terror and was instrumental in creating the new White House Office of Global Communications. Ms. Hughes served as Director of Communications for both of President's Bush's gubernatorial campaigns in 1994 and 1998. She also served as Director of Communications in Governor's Bush's state office throughout his tenure as Governor. She recently completed a book tour for her first novel, "Ten Minutes from Normal" and is currently traveling full time with President Bush. Mary Matalin formerly served as assistant to President George W. Bush and counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney, and was the first White House official to hold that double title. Before joining the Bush/Cheney White House, Matalin hosted CNN's Crossfire and is the former founding co-host of the Washington-based political weeknight talk show, Equal Time, which premiered in May 1993 on CNBC. She held senior positions in the George H. W. Bush 1988 campaign and, upon President Bush's election, was appointed chief of staff for the RNC. In 1992, President Bush named her the deputy campaign manager for political operations. As deputy campaign manager, she was responsible for the overview and organization of all 50 state operations. She is a senior advisor to Bush-Cheney '04 Mark Wallace, deputy campaign manager for Bush-Cheney 2004, will serve as the campaign point person for the Debate Negotiation Team. Wallace is an experienced lawyer with more than a decade of experience in both government and the private sector. Wallace was the top lawyer for the investigations division of the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS"), the Bureau of Immigration and Customs enforcement, and for DHS' Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. During his service at DHS he oversaw nearly 800 lawyers in 26 offices nationwide. He previously served as the general counsel of FEMA, where he was the lead federal lawyer overseeing the New York WTC recovery effort. Prior to his government service, Wallace was a longtime partner in the Miami, Florida commercial litigation law firm of Stack Fernandez Anderson Harris & Wallace P.A.
James Baker bump!
If Kerry's debate negotiators are anything like the people who negotiated Clinton's 1994 treaty with North Korea, the Republican Party should have nuclear weapons within 10 years.
Wow. That's a tough bunch. Go get 'em!!
Karen Hughes is pretty tough, Haley Barbour is no slouch either.
I would pay cash money to hear these negotiations.
Vernon Jordan's last big negotiation was to get Monica a job. Bwahahahaha!
"We are honored that Secretary Baker will lead negotiations on behalf of our campaign. I am confident that he and the other seasoned members of our team will conduct negotiations in a thoughtful manner to ensure a robust debate of the critical issues facing our country," said Bush-Cheney '04 Campaign Chairman Governor Marc Racicot.This is a signal to the debate organizers, one that they had better heed. Baker is the Bush family consigliare. They sent him to Florida in 2000 to organize the resistance against Gore's attempted state-court coup. Baker is one of their biggest guns.
this is a bang your knuckles, bust your nose group. I love it that Baker who led the Florida recount defense is front and center here.
Note to Kerry campaign: Be afraid, be very afraid.
Where's Ditka??
First she gave a job, before she was given a job.
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