David Axelrod biography

Obama Campaign

And push he did, across decades and across all levels of government, culminating with Axelrod's most defining accomplishment to date: The media management of Barack Obama's 2008 race for U.S. President. Axelrod and Obama first met in 1992 working amongst Democratic leaders in Chicago. Obama was a community organizer,

working on increasing voter registration in Chicago's underprivileged neighborhoods. In 2003 Barack Obama ignored Axelrod's advice to run for governor of Chicago, and instead convinced Axelrod to join his campaign as a strategist during his race for the Senate. Seeing great promise in young Obama, Axelrod was credited with assembling the campaign management team which succeeded in getting Obama elected as a U.S. senator for Illinois in 2005.

When Barack Obama decided to run for the U.S. presidency, Axelrod was again chosen as the man to run his media strategy. During the presidential election, David Axelrod was credited with revolutionizing modern day campaigning. Astute enough to realize America was looking for a fresher, more progressive president who could unite the nation and inspire even the most apathetic and ambivalent citizens, Axelrod implemented a "bottom-up" grassroots campaign style. He ingeniously created short television biographies of Obama as the quintessential face of the American dream. Axelrod's television biographies made a virtually unknown Barack Obama accessible to America, assuring the nation that the presidential candidate would work diligently to unite races, political parties, and foreign nations. Axelrod also promoted Obama as the bipartisan face of change by implementing other technology-laden campaign tactics. Spanish radio advertisements began to run in states with high Latino populations, and huge pockets of traditionally overlooked voters were mobilized through the internet and cellular phones, turning countless citizens into grassroots volunteers.

Senior Advisor

A staunch believer in Obama's capacity to inspire change, Axelrod strategically transmitted his vision of Obama's leadership to America with effective, pioneering campaign tactics, landing Obama a decisive and historic victory in 2008. As Barack Obama became the first African-American president in U.S. history, Axelrod saw similarities between President Obama and the trials felt by the late African-American Chicago mayor Harold Washington. "In many cases their personal stories are symbolic of the kinds of values that we as a society hold dear even if we haven't always honored them historically," Axelrod said. "They've seen the obstacles and the barriers and they've also overcome them: It shows the work we have to do and the possibility that that work can get done, that you can work for a better future."

Consequently, Barack Obama and David Axelrod's mantra of "Change" has landed them both in the White House with the responsibility of executing the campaign's "Yes We Can" sentiments. Axelrod recently accepted Obama's offer to become his chief political advisor where he will continue in his role as Obama's image architect and sage advisor.

© 2013 A+E Networks. All rights reserved.