--- title: Republican Rush to Hire 2016 Campaign Staff Brings Out the Beggars description: Republicans chase operatives with experience in Iowa, New Hampshire as they ramp up operations for Presidential Bids. canonical: https://time.com/3897891/2016-republicans-staff-primary/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-27T16:12:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:43.525Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why Iowa and New Hampshire Operatives Are in Demand for 2016 og:description: Aides to Presidential campaigns are demanding top-dollar, driving up costs og:url: https://time.com/3897891/2016-republicans-staff-primary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta4738bb21192a9b2/698851ce428a9e263dccd6bf/jeb-bush-new-hampshire1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3714 og:image:height: 2089 og:image:alt: Jeb Bush og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Iowa and New Hampshire Operatives Are in Demand for 2016 twitter:description: Aides to Presidential campaigns are demanding top-dollar, driving up costs twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta4738bb21192a9b2/698851ce428a9e263dccd6bf/jeb-bush-new-hampshire1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mad Rush to Hire 2016 Campaign Staff Brings Out the Beggars > Sponsored content. 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It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=216e79fd-593d-4713-8fe7-119d2eeb9295&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Monday to Saturday (3x per week) | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Philip Elliott, Senior Correspondent | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership The policy influence ecosystem. A policy-focused audience spanning government, public affairs, advocacy, law, research, political media, and the institutions that make, interpret and respond to public policy. ### TIME D.C. Brief: key statements * D.C. Brief is edited by TIME journalists. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Real TIME: Scott Walker At CPAC 2015 [Watch (HLS stream): Real TIME: Scott Walker At CPAC 2015](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Em2MtXHb.m3u8) (0:59)  _Published 2015-02-28. Gov. Scott Walker shared his views on the economy, minimum wage, and and the partisan showdown in Congress over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's impending visit to the U.S. during his speech at CPAC._  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent May 27, 2015 4:12 PM UTC  Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks at the Draft restaurant, Thursday, May 21, 2015, in Concord, N.H. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks at the Draft restaurant, Thursday, May 21, 2015, in Concord, N.H. Jim Cole—AP  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent May 27, 2015 4:12 PM UTC It’s enough to make a campaign get on its knees and beg. Literally. Such was the scene earlier this month at Rocket Man, a dueling pianos joint in Columbia, S.C. A top aide in former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s campaign-in-waiting dropped to one knee and asked a respected South Carolina operative to reconsider her decision to join rival Mike Huckabee’s run at the Republicans’ Presidential nomination. Hope Walker, who most recently was the state director for the South Carolina GOP, told her suitor that she was sticking with Huckabee and there was no need for Bush to phone her. Bush communications maven Tim Miller shook his head, stood up and moved onto his next potential hire at the other end of the bar. Miller is still wooing that operative. For GOP campaigns looking to build a payroll of experienced aides, this is the new normal: lots of courtship and many promises. With more than a dozen—and perhaps eventually as many as two dozen—contenders at various stages of preparation for a White House bid, the fight for staff is fierce. Promises of access to the candidate, special titles and bloated salaries are the new chits for the small subset of political professionals who have run campaigns before. And that’s before the outside groups, the super PACs and the nominally apolitical groups such as Americans for Prosperity or the League of Conservation Voters start building their teams. Those groups are ramping up their staffs and activities, fueled by donors who can give an unlimited amount of cash. In turn, it’s becoming a bidding war. Operatives who have networks in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina stand to be the campaign’s most obvious profiteers. “It is harder to find this time because there are so many candidates or likely candidates,” said a veteran operative to Presidential hopefuls and a current adviser to a top-tier candidate who has yet to formally enter the race. “The supply isn’t here to even meet the demands. There is a dynamic that it feels like there is a shortage of staff.” Part of it is more than a feeling. Take New Hampshire, which is scheduled to have the nation’s first primary on Feb. 9, 2016\. In non-presidential years, elections there are typically used to build a bench of talent and train them for the coming White House runs. That didn’t happen in 2014; Senate hopeful Scott Brown imported many of his aides from across state lines in Massachusetts, and gubernatorial nominee Walt Haverstein ran a lackluster race that no one wants to repeat. The result is what one aide calls a BYOS dynamic: Bring Your Own Staff. Miami-based Miller was at Bush’s side last week in New Hampshire on a trip to New Hampshire. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker had his Madison-based aides with him on a recent trip. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has no plans to hire New Hampshire-based communications aides and sent a former Trenton-based adviser to New Hampshire to lay the groundwork for a potential run. Even Sen. Kelly Ayotte had to import talent for what could be a tough re-election bid in 2016\. The de facto head of the New Hampshire GOP recruited a campaign manager, Ben Sparks, from his most recent campaign helping Dan Sullivan win a Senate race in Alaska. It is a dynamic that is playing out in the other states, and at national headquarters, where finding bodies to put into jobs is taking up a lot top campaign aides’ time. “With the potential for 19 candidates, anyone who has a hint of a resume gets to be a political director or a state director,” said an established political adviser who has four Presidential campaigns on her resume. She, however, is sitting this campaign out despite repeated phone calls from presidential hopefuls and their staffs. “Their pitch was: ‘Whatever you want,’” she said. She is passing even though she is leaving potentially hefty paychecks on the table. Her 2012 job paid her $10,000 a month and she figures she could have more than doubled that in 2016. None of the declared or likely candidates has filed campaign finance reports that would indicate salary levels for the 2016 race. But among the sought-after operatives—friends to each other in non-election settings—they speculate some of the top staff hires are earning as much as $35,000 each month. To be sure, there is money to be made Presidential politics. In late December of 2011—days before Iowa’s caucuses—then-state Sen. Kent Sorenson resigned from Rep. Michele Bachmann’s Presidential campaign to join Rep. Ron Paul’s. According to his plea deal in a campaign finance case, he received $73,000 for the defection. And that was over a move from a sixth-place finisher to a third-place candidate in 2012. With 2016 looming, the price is only increasing. “They’re inflating the prices of these guys,” said a longtime adviser to a former governor chasing the nomination. “They know it’s a short run and they want to milk it for all it’s worth,” he added. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Today in Washington, we have a president who thinks we grow the economy by growing Washington. Well, I got news for him. We believe in America that is growing the economy in cities and towns and villages all across this great country. We think that's the way to go forward. [ APPLAUSE ] And we need a leader who understands that when the Prime Minister and leader of our long time ally asks to come to congress to share his concerns about Iran, we should show him and his country our respect. [ MUSIC ] I think arguing about how low wages are is a faulty argument. I'll let the left worry about how low they want people to be. I wanna have everyone in this country be able to live their piece of the American Dream, get the government out of the way, and help them get the skills they need to support their families going forward. 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