Dan Bartlett

Bartlett worked on George W. Bush's first campaign for governor in 1994, when Bush unseated Ann W. Richards. He was appointed as deputy to the policy director in the governor's office and was issues director for Bush's 1998 gubernatorial re-election campaign.

Bartlett was the director of rapid response for George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign,

After Bush assumed office as president, he worked as a deputy to advisor Karen Hughes before being named White House communications director.

Following the July 6, 2003, editorial by former ambassador Joseph Wilson, Bartlett (with Ari Fleischer) pushed reporters to pursue who in the CIA sent him to Niger, but stopped short of revealing that his wife worked for the agency.[2]

On September 1, 2004, Bartlett appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart on the second night of the 2004 Republican National Convention, where he discussed the convention and campaign.[3]

On January 5, 2005, the White House announced that Bartlett would assume the role of counselor to the president, which allows him to focus more broadly on strategic communication and the formulation of policy. He has also worked for Karl Rove's political consulting firm. On June 1, 2007, Bartlett announced his resignation as Counsel to the President.[4]

At the end of 2007, during an interview after having left the White House, Bartlett implied some conservative bloggers, such as Hugh Hewitt, were unfiltered mouthpieces for the GOP and the Bush White House.

I mean, talk about a direct IV into the vein of your support. It's a very efficient way to communicate. They regurgitate exactly and put up on their blogs what you said to them. It is something that we've cultivated and have really tried to put quite a bit of focus on.[5]

In May 2008, Bartlett appeared on various media outlets casting aspersions on the contentions raised by Scott McClellan in his book What Happened that the administration had repeatedly "shaded the truth" in connection with justifying the Iraq War, and describing the role that various administration officials played in the Valerie Plame leak case.[6] In a May 2008 telephone interview with CNN, Bartlett "asserted that McClellan did not play a major role in key events, noting that the former aide was serving as deputy press secretary for domestic issues during the run-up to the war in Iraq, raising questions about how McClellan could claim the President used 'propaganda' to sell the war."[7]