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AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Obama campaign manager discusses health care, Mass. race

David Plouffe

This post was written by Hatchet reporter Jenny Suzdak.

Well-known political strategist and the former chief campaign manager for President Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign David Plouffe spoke at the Elliott School Tuesday night, discussing how the Democrats could lose in Massachusetts, health care reform and his new book, “The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama’s Historic Victory.”

Huffington Post White House Correspondent Sam Stein moderated the question and answer discussion – hosted by the Graduate School of Political Management and the Progressive Book Club – where Plouffe took questions from both the in-house and online audience.

Stein set the tone for the evening by asking Plouffe how a Democrat could potentially lose a Senate seat in Massachusetts.

“Every race is different… and Scott Brown ran a good campaign,” Plouffe said.

The Washington Post reported late Tuesday that Republican Scott Brown won the late Edward Kennedy’s Senate seat in Massachusetts with 51.9 percent of the vote over Democrat Martha Coakley’s 47.1 percent. Coakley was favored to win the seat up until a month again when Brown launched an aggressive campaign against her.

Despite Democrats losing their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate – which may force the Democrats to scramble to pass a health care bill before the election results are certified or face not having a bill before Brown takes office – Plouffe said the Republicans will not win back their majority in Congress.

“Republicans won’t win back the House (and) Senate…they don’t deserve it,” he said.

While discussing controversial topics like health care reform, Plouffe told students that their votes matter.

“If we can deliver on health care reform we can say “your vote matters,”” he said. “”We have to pass health care reform…I wish Republicans would participate but they’re not, so we have to lead.”

While Plouffe was hesitant to comment on the current policies of the Obama administration, as he is not a member, he was adamant about the need for health care reform.

“We have to pass health care… If we pass health care we can say look what we did, we brought change. ”

This is not Plouffe’s first time at GW; he spoke to the College Democrats in September, discussing Obama’s campaign strategies.

Check out Thursday’s edition of The Hatchet for the full story.

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