THE PROTEGES. I'm no defender of Mark Penn, given the campaign he urged Joe Lieberman to wage in 2003 against Howard Dean's then-daring articulation of positions that are today's conventional wisdom on the war in Iraq, but I think if people are going to go after him and Doug Schoen, they also need to take into consideration the protegés his firm has seeded throughout the political system. John Edwards, for example, employs this current vice president of Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates:
David Ginsberg, Vice President | Washington DC
David Ginsberg, Vice President, specializes in domestic and international political advocacy at PSB, as well as corporate crisis communications and corporate reputation work. Mr. Ginsberg has played an influential role in campaigns in the United States, Italy, Nigeria, Mauritius, and the Czech Republic. Additionally, he is the lead consultant for many corporate clients including Intel, Dominion Resources, and Denny's. Mr. Ginsberg has held senior positions in several presidential and statewide campaigns, most recently serving as Senior Advisor for Communications in the Kerry/Edwards presidential campaign. Mr. Ginsberg served as Deputy Campaign Manager for Communications in Senator Edwards' presidential campaign and as Research Director of Gore/Lieberman 2000. He is also a veteran of the Clinton/Gore 1996 presidential campaign.
According to Chris Cillizza, he's part of Edwards' senior messaging team. In 2005, Campaigns & Elections pegged Ginsberg as a "Rising Star" for his work as "director of political operations" for Penn, Schoen & Berland. And he's still working there, in addition to working for Edwards.
--Garance Franke-Ruta
