Posted on 07/04/2007 7:49:30 AM PDT by chief911
Robert Traynham, former communications director for U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., had been wooed by several presidential campaigns, but seemed to be heading for something of a timeout from politics.
Now it seems he's changed course and has signed on with actor and former Sen. Fred Thompson's campaign as a senior adviser.
It's a "shrewd move," says Sharon Cobb...
who notes Traynham brings strong qualifications to the campaign plus hiring the openly gay man could help win support of moderate Republicans.
Since Santorum's defeat, Traynham has hung out his own PR shingle, working for a variety of private sector clients including Philadelphia-based Comcast and has been working on projects including a book deal of his own, teaching and serving as a commentator for National Public Radio.
When we e-mailed Traynham last night saying we thought he was staying out of politics for a while, he responded, "I thought so too!"
"Yes, I am (on) board and very pleased to be helping Senator Thompson test the waters for a possible presidential run," he wrote.
Robert Traynham being gay is no big deal.
OTOH, I’ll keep my fingers crossed on this one.
Robert Traynham was with Fred’s entourage when Fred visited New Hampshire last week. He did not act or dress “gay”. From what I saw, he’s a competent, hard-working fellow.
http://www.cheyney.edu/pages/index.asp?p=213
The Bush-Cheney campaign had hired him, too:
http://rothenbergpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/2007/05/gop-back-to-square-one.html
“Bush received 11 percent of the black vote in 2004, up 2 points from 2000, and it wasn’t by accident. The Bush-Cheney campaign hired Robert Traynham, a high-level black staffer on Capitol Hill, as a senior adviser.”
In fact, few have more influence on policy than those who author the message.
I have thought all along that Santorum would make a fantastic running mate or member of the cabinet.
His job will be to schedule Thompson for press conferences & working with the media and such. He's not going to write any of Thompson's speeches or have influence on his policies.
He's been working with the GOP since the early 90s. If it was OK then, why the big deal now?
It's not. It's behind the scenes stuff (no pun intended). Doing the phone calls, scheduling, & making the rounds with the MSM.
I never made any comment about the quality of his choice. I simply pointed out a fact.
However, now that you mention it, the pick is one more clue as a conservative observes Fred Thompson and puts the pieces together.
Not only did Santorum lose, he lost big. And if this guy was responsible for his campaign, it’s no recommendation. It was a dumb campaign with nasty, sarcastic ads on Santorum’s part that turned off the voters at the outset. Santorum never got any traction at all. He tried every issue he could come up with including, at the end, dire warnings that sounded like Churchill in the 30s. Nothing worked. Casey barely campaigned and fumbled in the debates but still won, I think by about 20 percentage points.
Why do you say that? Santorum is still pretty young, and he has several more Presidential election cycles of which he can take advantage.
I was concerned at first, but if JimRob is okay with it, that’s good enough for me.
I haven't seen any problems from Cheney's daughter. There are folks who don't like Cheney, and never will; doesn't matter at bit about his family.
If Santorum didn’t have a problem with this man being homosexual, I don’t see why voters who might support Fred Thompson would.
In a very short time, you will see if we will get a true conservative on economic and social issues, or whether we get George W. Bush again for four, maybe eight years.
I hadn’t heard of this guy before, but certainly Santorum was not someone who had any interest in gay rights. I have friends and colleagues in my field who happen to be homosexual. I don’t admire that aspect of their lives, but I’m not going to refuse to speak to them because of it.
In the past I have hired one or two people who were lesbian or homosexual, because they were best qualified for the jobs in question, and because they were not committed to gay activism.
If this guy is good at his job and is not a gay activist, then I don’t see that it’s really relevant.
If a gay or lesbian was the most qualified applicant for a position. I’d hire them over an underqualified straight person any day.
you have outed yourself as a real class act. congrats.
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