People Worth Knowing: David Axelrod

For those who don't know him, David Axelrod is probably the most visible of three Senior Advisers to President Obama. "Senior Adviser" is a malleable official position in the White House with various unspecified responsibilities and duties which are relative to the person carrying them out. Axelrod has been with the President since at least 2003 when he worked as a top adviser on Obama's Senate Campaign. He is a shrewd campaigner, maintaining a high profile during the 2008 elections and is credited for helping to build the machine that put Obama in the White House. Many pundits agree that Axelrod is Obama's "Message" man, with high influence with regard to the Administration's strategy on interface with the public. To put it in West Wing terms, he's like a combination of Toby Ziegler and Josh Lyman, dealing with policy craft and advising White House communications.