Julianna Smoot

Julianna Smoot is a leading professional fundraiser for the Democratic Party. She is currently national finance director for the presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Barack Obama. Under Smoot's direction, the campaign raised an "eye-popping" $32.5 million during the second quarter of 2007. [http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=3336526&page=1]

Smoot was born in North Carolina. She graduated from Smith College in 1989. During the 2006 election cycle, she served as finance director for Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee headed by Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic campaign chairman, and raised record sums of money. The Democrats successfully regained control of the senate in November. Shortly after the election, she was contacted by Obama.

Previously she served as finance director for then Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle and as finance director for Senator John Edwards's Senate race in 1998. She has also held positions with Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia.

In a Washington Post article on April 8, 2007 entitled "Whatever the Postmarks Say, the Checks are Made out to Franken" by Chris Cillizza and Shailagh Murray, Smoot was declared "MVP for the first fundraising quarter" due to her success in raising money for the Obama presidential campaign in the first quarter ending on March 31. Schumer is quoted in the article as saying "She is a fine person" and "I am very proud of her." He reportedly called Smoot to congratulate her once the Obama fundraising numbers were in. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/07/AR2007040701034.html] [http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/01/the_obama_inner_circle.html]

References

* Matthew Mosk, "The $75 Million Woman," "Washington Post", Monday, 8 October 2007, p. A1.