The Only Democratic Operative With Holiday Cheer
U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) celebrates with supporters at the Puritan Conference Center November 4, 2014 in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty ImagesMike Vlacich might be the only Democratic operative in the country who will give thanks on Turkey Day. The New Hampshire Senate campaign he managed for incumbent Jeanne Shaheen was the one blue winner in a lava field of red.
That makes him a standout in the ranks of this year's Democratic campaign managers and consultants and a plum staff pick for such potential 2016 candidates as Hillary Clinton in need of a New Hampshire consigliere. Even within the state, the three-percentage-point victory the Shaheen campaign achieved over Republican Scott Brown is noticeable. Granite State Democrats lost one of two House seats in Congress, control of the state's House of Representatives and the majority on the state's executive council, a key policy making body. Nationally, Democrats lost at least eight U.S. Senate seats this year and surrendered control of the chamber. They could lose a ninth in Louisiana in a Dec. 6 runoff.