A Westerner in the White House: Messina Tapped as Obama Deputy Chief of Staff

By Courtney Lowery, 11-17-08

President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Jim Messina, former chief of staff for Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., as one of his deputy chiefs of staff in the White House.

Messina, who grew up in Colorado and Idaho and graduated from the University of Montana, worked as Obama’s campaign chief of staff and will now be part of Obama’s tight inner circle as the President-elect prepares to take over in Washington.

Messina is a long-time political figure in Montana who started his career in the statehouse in 1991. In August, Messina did an interview with High Country News‘ Ray Ring in which he he said:

I think that’s what (much of the West) is—Westerners are not partisan. ... People ask me all the time, “Why are Democrats doing so well in Montana?” It’s because we are able to speak to all Montanans about issues that are important to all, like public access to lands—that’s not a Democratic issue or a Republican issue, but the fact is, Democrats are better at it than Republicans are, and it speaks to a whole bunch of people who are unaffiliated and who care deeply about it.

You can read the full interview, titled “Obama’s Western Ace-In-The-Hole” here.