Mary Beth Cahill

Mary Beth Cahill
Director of the Office of Public Liaison
In office February 5, 1999 – January 20, 2001
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Minyon Moore
Succeeded by	Lezlee Westine
Personal details
Born	December 1954 (age 61–62) Dorchester, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Steve Champlin
Alma mater	Emmanuel College, Massachusetts
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Mary Beth Cahill (born December 1954) is an American political figure, who served as the campaign manager of Senator John Kerry's campaign for the Democratic nomination for President. She was Kerry's second campaign manager; she replaced Jim Jordan in November 2003, after Jordan was fired by Kerry.^[1]

She was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts and raised in Framingham, Massachusetts by a large, politically active, Irish-Catholic family. Cahill graduated from Emmanuel College, Boston, a small local Catholic liberal arts school with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.^[2]

Her first political job began when she worked for Congressman Robert Drinan, a Jesuit priest. She worked as his receptionist and caseworker, and then for Representative Barney Frank. In 1986 she was the campaign manager for Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT).^[3] She was also an Assistant to the President and Director of Public Liaison^[4] in Bill Clinton’s White House and chief of staff to Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA).

Following the Kerry campaign, Cahill was a fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in the spring of 2005. She led a study group for undergraduates entitled "Campaigns 101."

Cahill last worked to raise funds for Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick, who defeated Attorney General Tom Reilly and businessman Chris Gabrieli in the 2006 primary and Kerry Healey in the general election.

Cahill is seen as an expert on women and politics. She was the Executive Director of EMILY's List for five years and has trained women on how to run for political office all around the world, including Russia, Macedonia, and Ireland.

Further reading

• Garance Franke-Ruta, "Kerry's Women," The American Prospect, April 1, 2004.

External links

• Mary Beth Cahill at the Internet Movie Database

References

1. Associated Press (2003-11-10). "Kerry Fires Campaign Manager". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
2. Johanna Neuman (2004-01-29). "Campaign Manager in Spotlight as Kerry Becomes Frontrunner". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
3. Karen Tumulty (2004-03-08). "The Miracle Worker". Time. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
4. "White House Transition Project Institutional Memory Series: The White House Office of Public Liaison" (PDF). p. 8. Retrieved 2009-07-25.