Linda Moore Forbes

Fall 2011
Image

Linda Moore Forbes, a veteran of The White House, Capitol Hill, and national political campaigns, is a senior strategist known for playing crucial roles for high-profile leaders.

Moore Forbes fell in love with politics in college, working on her first U.S. Senate race while studying at the University of Texas. She moved on to a Senate race in Georgia before heading to Washington for her first stint on Capitol Hill and her first presidential campaign, Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt’s 1988 bid.

Moore Forbes then joined the staff of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), the organization that developed the key policy ideas in President Clinton’s campaign and governing agenda. Serving for five years as its Field Director, she built a strong, cohesive organization that would later become the backbone of Clinton’s presidential campaign and change the face of the Democratic Party and the national political landscape. The DLC’s success became a model for the New Labor movement in Great Britain and other progressive governments around the world.

Moore Forbes served for eight years in the Clinton White House Office of Political Affairs, first as Special Assistant to the President, and in the second term as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Political Director. She advised the President, Vice President, First Lady, and members of the Cabinet on national, state, and local political concerns, and developed and directed activities with Administration principals, elected officials, party leaders, and key supporters across the country to further the President’s goals and initiatives.

Moore Forbes took a leave in the fall of 1996 to serve as Deputy Political Director for Clinton-Gore ’96, helping Clinton to become the first Democrat since Franklin Roosevelt to win a second full term as president. Among her responsibilities was winning the Midwest battleground. She developed and directed the President’s political strategy for twelve Midwestern states, seven of which were designated “must win.” All seven “must wins” were carried by President Clinton, five by a double-digit margin. This strategy also helped produce victories in two gubernatorial and five U.S. Senate contests, and recapture seven Congressional seats and three state legislative chambers.

Following the White House, Moore Forbes served for a decade as Senior Advisor to Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, helping to establish the Senator’s profile as a national leader and spokesperson for centrist Democrats. She served as strategic and political advisor to the Senator and guided the staff on policy development, communications, and coalition-building for high-profile and controversial issues. She also supervised all of the Senator’s political activities, including those on behalf of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and as founder and leader of the Senate New Democrats Coalition, as DLC Chairman, as well as the Senator’s own presidential exploratory efforts and consideration as the Democratic vice presidential nominee.

Moore Forbes took two leaves of absence during her tenure with Senator Bayh to work on presidential campaigns. In 2004, she was recruited by the John Kerry for President campaign to serve as Political Director for vice-presidential nominee John Edwards. In 2008, during its most critical and tumultuous period in the primaries, the Hillary Clinton for President campaign brought in Moore Forbes to serve as Director of Congressional Affairs and as a member of the campaign’s strategic decision-making team.

Moore Forbes, a native Texan, is a 1984 graduate of the University of Texas.

Disclaimer: This information is accurate for the time period that this person was affiliated with the Institute of Politics.

Image