Purple Strategies - A Unique Perspective on Public Affairs

05.16.12 Let The Honeymoon Begin: Romney’s Poll Numbers Perk Up

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may have outlasted his Republican presidential primary foes. But the brutal contest sure didn’t help him with general election voters.

As the Republican primaries and caucuses dragged on, Romney saw his standing plummet among Americans as a whole. Yet as summer approaches, things may have changed.

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04.24.12 Why The Latino Vote Isn’t Really Up For Grabs

… “There’s no play in the immigration debate for Republicans — the states that it would move people are already in the R column,” said Doug Usher, a managing director with the bipartisan firm Purple Strategies and a former pollster for Sen. John Kerry’s (D) presidential campaign. But it’s equally unlikely to put new states on the map for President Obama, though Usher says he thinks Latino support could help him hold Colorado and Virginia.

Bruce Haynes, Usher’s colleague as a founding partner of Purple Strategies and a veteran of Republican campaigns, told TPM that in his list of the biggest swing states — Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and Colorado — “Immigration is a issue in all of them, but a key driver in none of them.” But, he says, that’s not what’s important for Mitt Romney on the issue…

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03.26.12 Hitting reset on the 2012 presidential race

There is a question keeping President Barack Obama and his talented reelection team up at night: What if Eric Fehrnstrom was right?

Fehrnstrom is the author of Sen. Scott Brown’s stunning, come-from-behind victory in 2010 and, perhaps, the most politically astute member of Team Romney. He famously asserted after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s big win in the Illinois primary that, in the general election, Romney would “hit a reset button.”

“It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch,” Fehrnstrom said. “You can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again.”

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03.26.12 How To Run On Health Care Reform In 2012

…First of all, the issue cuts much harder for Republicans in a political sense. Pollsters TPM spoke with defined it as a issue that fuses the GOP together, just when the party needs to coalesce. After a fractious presidential primary process, which has seen the intramural battles rage between the establishment-moderate-electable choice in former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and a chorus of other Republican candidates that fought for the mantle as the “true conservative” in the race, it’s the issue that combines both moderate and right wing Republicans.

“This is base unifying issue for Republicans,” said Bruce Haynes, a founding partner of Purple Strategies and a veteran of GOP campaigns. “Inside heath care reform is every good dog whistle issue for the Republican Party. It’s deficits, taxes, spending, even religious freedom. Every issue you could find inside a Republican Party platform is contained inside health care reform.”

03.22.12 Jeb Bush: It’s Time to Support Romney

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says Republican front-runner Mitt Romney has earned the right to take on President Obama in November.

“It is time to get behind the nominee,” Bush told the Tribune-Review on Wednesday during a visit to Pittsburgh. “And it is time for the country to focus on the most important thing, which is to elect a president who will create a climate for high growth and job-creating abilities for our country.”

Bush called for the Republican Party to unite behind the former Massachusetts governor, who won the Illinois primary this week – with 99 percent of precincts reporting, Romney led rival Rick Santorum 46.7 to 35 percent.

GOP strategist Bruce Haynes said the Bush endorsement is worth a lot to the Romney campaign.

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03.9.12 GOP Field Tries To Eat Its Veggies In The Heart Of Red Meat Country

Bruce Haynes, managing partner at Purple Strategies who has worked in the Deep South for Republicans, agreed.

“It’s not as much a Southern thing as it is a cultural thing,” Haynes told TPM. “He’s [Romney] connecting well with certain groups of Republicans that care about economic issues, and finding a candidate that can beat the Democrat. He’s not connecting with the base of the party, who are more concerned with other issues … those who are more emotional and less rational in their choices.”

“Emotional” voters are indeed an obstacle for Romney — and for the GOP as a whole. At a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor Thursday, Republican strategist Whit Ayers — who was working for Jon Huntsman until he dropped out, and is now unaligned — told reporters that the social fights have taken their toll.

02.21.12 Chris Mather joins Purple Strategies: Opening Chicago office

Purple Strategies, a public affairs firm, is expanding to Chicago, adding to its team Chris Mather, the former communications chief for Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The bi-partisan Purple Strategies is headquartered in Alexandria, Va., a Washington suburb with a branch in Houston; Mather will open the Chicago office.

Mather, who left City Hall in December, is a veteran of national and Illinois campaigns and was communications director for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack before joining the Emanuel administration.

Purple has a footprint in the Chicago area, working with United Airlines, McDonalds and BP. A subsidiary of the company, Citizen2, which specializes in branding –Coca Cola is a client–already has a Chicago presence, staffed with three alums from Leo Burnett, the advertising agency.

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“Chris offered us a wonderful opportunity to expand and extend our line in Chicago, our brand in Chicago,” said McMahon.

“…Her experience is perfect. She has deep connections throughout the city and Mayor Emanuel told me she would be an unbelievably good hire,” said McMahon who has known Emanuel for some 25 years.

Emanuel said in a statement, “This is a big win for Purple Strategies. Chris was one of my first hires as Mayor and I know first-hand what she can do and the talent she brings. Her experience across the city makes her an invaluable asset and any client would be lucky to have her at the table.”

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01.27.12 Rick Perry’s back in Texas, and some wonder if he’s lost political power there

Yes, to the non-Texan eye, it looks like Republican Gov. Rick Perry has slunk home from his last rodeo, having humiliated himself and his home state with a presidential run that will go down in history as one big “Oops.”

But even though Texas Monthly welcomed him home with a “bum steer” award, and a statewide poll shows him with a lower approval rating than even President Obama, neither Republicans nor Democrats in the state are sure his political career is over.

First, that’s because he continues to control so many state appointments — and, as critics see it, the unlimited contributions of the donors he doles them out to. A fourth term as governor isn’t out of the question in a state the size of France, where races are mainly run and won with expensive TV ads.

And his team has signaled that it believes he did so well that he might run for president again in 2016, or at least seek a fourth term as governor in 2014.

“You’ve got a situation where the 800-pound gorilla just did a season on ‘Biggest Loser,’ ” said Democratic strategist Joe Householder of Houston-based Purple Strategies. “But now he’s a 300-pound gorilla,” and that’s still not a house pet

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01.22.12 Gingrich, Romney face ultimate test

“It’s been a truism in American politics for over 30 years: South Carolina is where insurgent, underdog candidacies go to die. McCain beats Huckabee. Bush beats McCain. Dole and Bush beat Buchanan. The challenger is retired, and the front-runner begins to look ahead to November.

But this time, instead of closing out the GOP nominating conversation, South Carolina voters have begun a new conversation. Instead of ending the game, they’re sending it into overtime and the outcome is now up in the air.”

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11.8.11 Top energy firm strikes alliance with communications powerhouse

A top Washington, D.C., lobbying shop that specializes in energy and environmental issues is entering into a strategic alliance with a growing bipartisan communications and public affairs firm.

Purple Strategies, the communications company that also has a lobbying component, announced yesterday that it is joining forces with Lighthouse Consulting Group LLC, a government relations firm with expertise in the energy sector. According to a news release, the alliance, first reported yesterday by Politico, “will allow the two firms to provide a seamless approach for comprehensive government affairs advocacy in the dynamic energy field.”

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