Mary Beth Cahill

On November 10, 2003, Mary Beth Cahill, chief of staff to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., replaced Jim Jordan as John Forbes Kerry's campaign manager for the U.S. presidential election, 2004.

Right-wing columnist William Safire, in his November 12, 2003 Op-Ed piece for the New York Times, Never Love a Stranger, writes that Cahill's hiring reflects the "Kennedyization of the Kerry campaign," which "was carried out by Jeanne Shaheen, the former New Hampshire governor. She prevailed on the candidate to fire his longtime manager, Jim Jordan, and replace him with Mary Beth Cahill, Ted Kennedy's chief of staff. Cahill has impeccable far-left credentials, from Emily's List fund-raising to Representative Barney Frank's staff. She is an ideological soulmate of the superb writer and Kennedy Boston braintruster Robert Shrum, who has been battling Jordan to yank Kerry's moderate position over to the demonstrative dovecote."

In February 1999, Cahill, described as a "Capitol Hill veteran", was appointed by President William Jefferson Clinton as Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Public Liaison. She had "recently left her position as executive director of EMILY's List ("the nation's largest financial resource for pro-choice Democratic women running for the House, Senate and governor" / "a nonprofit Democratic political action committee"), which provides financial and political assistance to candidates for office. She formerly served as the organization's political director. She ... managed a number of gubernatorial, U.S. Senate, Congressional, and other political campaigns around the country. Ms. Cahill served as director of personnel and as director of the Washington, D.C., office of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under Governor Michael Dukakis, and ... worked on the staffs of Representatives Robert Drinan and Barney Frank. She received a B.A. degree from Emmanuel College."