Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Eli Being a campaign manager for a presidential reelect is a resume line many political operatives covet. But as the search begins for the guide of JOE BIDEN’s expected reelection bid, senior Democrats are wondering whether the president will have a tough time filling the job given the way Biden’s inner circle operates. Some possible contenders for the role have privately expressed wariness about it, worried that they’d effectively serve as a middleman between Biden’s long-standing brass and the campaign’s staff, with little ability to call the shots. The crowded, tight-knit group at the top of the White House— or “Biden people,” as many Democrats refer to them— is known for being tough for newcomers to break into and often making decisions by committee. That has created trepidation among some Democrats believed to be in consideration for the top gig, with the specter of the 2020 primary — and how then-candidate Biden pushed aside campaign manager GREG SCHULTZ — looming large. Biden has some time to decide on campaign staff, as he is unlikely to announce a re-election bid for months, should he decide on going through with it at all. In that vacuum, a D.C. parlor game about the campaign manager post has taken off. One veteran of presidential campaigns who has remained high on Team Biden’s list is ADDISU DEMISSIE, who ran Cory Booker’s 2020 campaign and has worked for the likes of HILLARY CLINTON and GAVIN NEWSOM while also being a top official at the Biden outside group Building Back Together. Demissie worked closely with ANITA DUNN and others in Biden world to help run the Democratic National Convention. But some Biden allies have sore feelings from the 2020 primary when, among other things, Booker insinuated Biden may be too old to be president . Plus, people close to the White House say the Oakland, Calif., native has indicated he’s not interested. Demissie didn’t comment. EMMY RUIZ has been discussed as another possibility given her current role as the White House’s director of political strategy and outreach. But Ruiz, who has a young family, has told close associates she is not interested in the campaign and is expected to stay at the White House, a source familiar with the matter told West Wing Playbook. JENN RIDDER, who ran Biden's states operation in 2020 after starting the cycle as Montana Gov. STEVE BULLOCK's campaign manager, is also on the Team Biden list as a potential manager. In addition to a previous working relationship with deputy chief of staff JEN O’MALLEY DILLON in 2020, she currently works as executive vice president at Precision Strategies, which O’Malley Dillon co-founded. Ridder also ran Colorado Gov. JARED POLIS's successful 2018 gubernatorial campaign. A fun fact: Ridder is the daughter of RICK RIDDER, a longtime political consultant in Denver and a contemporary of Biden dating back to his work for GARY HART during the 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns (Biden also ran in ‘88). Democrats inside and outside the White House have also been looking at the class of campaign managers from the 2022 midterms. That includes CHRISTIE ROBERTS, who under Sen. GARY PETERS had a banner midterm as executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee; BRENDAN McPHILLIPS , Biden’s Pennsylvania state director who helped lead Sen.-elect JOHN FETTERMAN’s campaign; EMMA BROWN, Sen. MARK KELLY’s campaign manager and 2020 coordinated campaign director for Biden and the Arizona Democratic Party; and QUENTIN FULKS, a J.B. PRITZKER alum who made a name for himself as the campaign manager for Sen. RAPHAEL WARNOCK. Some senior Democrats have also mentioned SAM CORNALE, the current executive director of the Democratic National Committee, as a potential pick given his current post. The White House waved away the parlor game chatter. “We’re aware that there is no deficit of people who speculate, but very few individuals are actually knowledgeable about anything of that nature,” deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES told us. Whoever gets the post will have heavy tasks: including the potential of beating back DONALD TRUMP or a Trump-esque candidate. And they’ll likely have to do it outside the spotlight. Biden aides generally keep their heads down. That is in part by design. Getting cast as a “star” can hurt one’s standing in Biden world. A glowing Washington Post profile in 2020 of O’Malley Dillon prompted internal backlash amongst many Biden advisers, for instance. But she survived and became an example of an outsider becoming a “Biden person.” O’Malley Dillon is now widely expected to steer the re-elect campaign from the White House (if it happens). MESSAGE US — Are you A DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVE WHO WANTS TO RUN BIDEN’S RE-ELECT? We want to hear from you! And we’ll keep you anonymous. Email us at westwingtips@politico.com.
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