Aristotle Crowns Democratic and Republican Dream Teams at AAPC Hall of Fame

The Oscars of Politics was taking place at the American Association of Political Consultants Pollie Awards in Phoenix, Arizona last week and Aristotle, a leading non-partisan provider of political technology serving thousands of candidates, political parties, PACs and grassroots groups worldwide, gave out special honors to Democratic and Republican Dream teams during the Hall of Fame awards ceremony on March 26, 2010.

“Campaigns are continually employing new strategies and technologies to enable the political communications process and when possible garner dramatic results,” said John Aristotle Phillips, CEO of Aristotle during the award luncheon.  “The credit for these results can often be traced to the behind-the-scenes campaign staff and political strategists for whom excellence is a habit. Today, it is my honor to recognize some of the best talent out there on both sides of the aisle at the Pollies, a well-established and prominent industry awards program.”

During the Hall of Fame Luncheon, Phillips recognized the following individuals with a special Aristotle award. In total, 23 Aristotle awards were presented to these talented political staff that serve as the political spokes in the campaign wheel.

The Aristotle Democratic dream team award winners include:

Campaign Manager: Jill Alper, Dewey Square Group (Grosse Pointe, MI)

Fundraising: Kimberly Scott, ConklinScott (Washington, DC); Robert Kaplan, Robert Kaplan Company (Los Angeles, CA); and Andy Szekeres, 3PG Consulting (Denver, CO).

Legal: Joe Sandler, Neil Reiff & Steve Hershkowitz; all of Sandler, Reiff, and Young (Washington, DC)

Media/Press Relations: Bud Jackson, The Jackson Group Media, LLC (Alexandria, VA) and Julian Mulvey, DevineMulvey (Washington, DC)

Compliance: Xavier Martinez, Martinez & Associates (Escondido, CA) and Brett Smiley, Campaign Finance Officers, LLC (Providence, RI)

Opposition Research: Lorena Chambers, Chambers, Lopez, & Gaitan, LLC (Arlington, VA)

Voter Contact: Liz Welsh, Executive Communications (Louisville, KY) and Marty Stone, Stone’s Phones (Washington, DC)

Polling: Mark Mellman, The Mellman Group (Washington, DC); Margie Omero, Momentum Analysis, LLC (Washington, DC); and Mike Testa, Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group (Washington, DC)

Web Design: Matthew Alvarez McMillan, Buzzmaker (Washington, DC)

Direct Mail: Liz Chadderdon, The Chadderdon Group (Washington, DC); Jim Spencer, The Campaign Network (Boston, MA); and Kevin Geary, The Baughman Company (Washington, DC)

Mobile Campaigning: Adam Ruff, Blue State Digital (Washington, DC)

The Aristotle Republican dream team award winners include:

Campaign Manager: Ross Grogg, McWaters for State Senate (VA) (Virginia Beach, VA)

Fundraising: Jessica Sams (Orlando , FL)

Legal: Jason Torchinsky, Holtzman Vogel, PLLC (Washington, DC)

Media/Press Relations: Hector Barajas, CA Republican Party (Sacramento, CA)

Compliance: Paul Kilgore, Professional Data Services, Inc. (Athens, GA) and Lisa Lisker, Huckaby Davis Lisker (Alexandria, VA)

Voter Contact: Aris McMahon, Advantage Inc.(Arlington, VA); Debbie McCall, Cardinal Communication Strategies, LLC (Los Angeles, CA); and Michael Rule, DCI Group (Phoenix, AZ)

Polling: Whit Ayres, Ayres, McHenry & Associates, Inc. (Alexandria, VA); Robert Popper, The Tarrance Group (Alexandria, VA); Jim Burton, Public Opinion Strategies (Alexandria, VA); and Chris Wilson, Wilson Research Strategies (McLean, VA)

Web Design: Jay Williams, The Stoneridge Group (Buford, GA) and Bill Carney, Inspiration WebWorks (Lansing, MI)

Direct Mail: Dan Hazelwood, Targeted Creative Communications, Inc. (Charleston, WV); John Brabender, BrabenderCox (Leesburg, VA); Walter Lukens, The Lukens Company (Arlington, VA); and Kathleen Patton, American Mailing List Corporation (Manassas, VA)

Mobile Campaigning: John Craig, Purple Forge (Ottawa, Ontario)

“At Aristotle we put a special emphasis on recruiting talent and recognizing accomplishments,” Phillips said. “We are proud to support the Dream Team Aristotle Awards at the Pollies and look forward to continuing this tradition of recognizing excellence throughout this election cycle. Indeed, we are supporting 4 unique awards programs this year to demonstrate our commitment to this industry and the talent that supports it.  With this type of recognition we ensure that talented individuals in politics get the recognition they so justly deserve.  Many of these outstanding award winners will employ Aristotle tools and technology in 2010 and 2012, and we are proud of the support we offer to these talented strategists, communicators, fund-raisers, and outreach coordinators.”

Aristotle will soon be announcing the Aristotle API (Application Programming Interface) Awards at the 2010 Politics Online Conference, April 19-20 in Washington, DC.  Aristotle has been providing programmers with access to Aristotle code to independently create programs that interface with the company’s advanced Campaign 360 technology.  A patent has been filed relating to the Campaign 360 technology that provides powerful new data-mining tools. Later this year, Aristotle will honor the best political programmers who created these interfaces for the iPhone and other applications.  In June 2010, Politics Magazine and Aristotle will present awards to 45 young political operatives worldwide, all less than 35 years of age, during the annual Politics Magazine Rising Stars of Politics Awards Sponsored by Aristotle.

Aristotle was also a proud sponsor of the 2010 Campaign & Elections Reed Awards.  For more information about the Pollies dream team award winners or applications for upcoming awards visit www.aristotle.com/excellence.

About Aristotle

Aristotle is recognized as a global pioneer in political technology, providing indispensable tools to those who seek to use the Democratic process to influence decisions at the ballot box.  Every occupant of the White House — Democrat and Republican — for more than 25 years has been an Aristotle customer, as are most U.S. Senators, most members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Democratic and Republican state party organizations. For information about career opportunities or for client inquiries, go to www.aristotle.com.