Clinton, Doyle: reading tea leaves

by Christi Parsons

A year ago, Hillary Clinton said she couldn't imagine running for office without Chicago's Patti Solis Doyle at her side.

A lot has transpired between the two friends since then -- including a failed presidential campaign in which Doyle was edged out at a tough moment -- and now it's the ousted campaign manager who is back in the game.

Barack Obama announced this afternoon that he is hiring Doyle to serve as chief of staff to whomever his vice presidential running mate ends up being.

Is it a sign that Sen. Clinton is in the running for that job? Or simply an effort to court her supporters by placing a high-ranking member of Clinton's campaign in a prestige position at his shop?

Let the speculation begin. In the meantime, check out this profile of Doyle written almost exactly a year ago by the Tribune's Jill Zuckman.

By Jill Zuckman, Tribune national correspondent

First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton descended from a military plane to a red carpet on the tarmac at Midway Airport. All the trappings of official ceremony were there, but the message she was about to deliver to the family of her trusted aide, Patti Solis, was highly personal.

As if reading a proclamation, Clinton told Solis' family of the many virtues of a man they had never met named Jim Doyle. The Solis family was decidedly confused.Unsure about telling her family she had met the man she would later marry, Solis looked on as Clinton mischievously delivered a high-powered endorsement of the relationship.

The moment is just one measure of the closeness between Clinton and Solis Doyle, a relationship that began with Solis Doyle taking a job working for Clinton during her husband's 1992 presidential campaign, and culminating with her now running Hillary Clinton's own bid for the White House.

The new role has thrust the publicity-shy Solis Doyle into the most public of roles, and at times the fit has been uncomfortable. Though her family has some prominence in Chicago politics-her brother Danny is 25th Ward alderman-she has been almost exclusively a behind- the-scenes power.

That is rapidly changing. As the first Latina to run a presidential campaign, she is trying to help elect the first woman president. And that is a powerful package both politically and personally.

"I couldn't imagine running for president without her by my side," Clinton said in an interview.

And of her patron, Solis Doyle responds in kind: "She's my friend, I will do anything for her."

At 41, Patti Solis Doyle has spent most of her adult life working for Clinton (she popularized the term "Hillaryland"), marrying and giving birth to two children along the way. Today she occupies a corner office in a run-down office building in suburban Virginia, overseeing more than 200 people and tens of millions of dollars in campaign cash.

A striking presence with long, dark hair, Solis Doyle-if Clinton?s campaign operatives have their way-will soon become a public face for the campaign, appearing on television and speaking regularly to reporters, something her family and friends say she is loath to do.

Strong organizational skills

Known for her extraordinary organizational skills, Solis Doyle thrives on keeping close watch on what's happening around her. But that may be nearly impossible, given the uncontrollable nature of a presidential campaign.

"I don't sleep much," she said in an interview in her office Wednesday. "I worry, did this get done? Is this happening? Part of the way I work is I like to play out every scenario?what if this happens, what if that happens, what if this happens?" she said. "I try to play out every scenario and try to have a plan B, a plan C, a plan D. Be prepared. You have to."

Most mornings begin with getting her daughter, Lee, 9, and son, Joey, 5, out of bed, fed and off to school. At 7:30, she has her first of many conference calls. Her days include working on the campaign budget, fundraising, and political endorsements, along with strategizing about the early primary calendar. She says she tries to be home for dinner and bath-time, and then she begins working again, often until 2 in the morning.

"As a mom, it's hard," she said. "The lack of sleep is probably going to kill me, but it's for a good cause."

Her role has generated excitement in the Latino community, with a steady demand for her presence at events, particularly in California. She's been credited with personally signing up the top Hispanic political leaders in California for Clinton, including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the speaker of the state Assembly, Fabian Nunez. With Hispanics making up 20 percent of the Democratic primary voters in California, the endorsements could be critical.

"She's smart and a role model not just for Latina women, but for women across the country," said Minyon Moore, a senior campaign adviser who also hails from Chicago. "She is the first campaign manager charting a course for a historic candidate, and she happens to be historic herself."

'Best person for the job'

But Clinton said she did not set out to make history by choosing Solis Doyle: "That wasn't my primary consideration. I chose her because I thought she was the best person for the job. The fact that she is Latina and a mother is part of who she is."

Solis Doyle, who laughs easily and loves to play poker, said she was surprised when she found out that she had become a first. (Luis Navarro, who is also Hispanic, was named to lead Sen. Joseph Biden's campaign earlier this year.)

"I've just always thought, 'I'm running a presidential campaign, and we have to win and do the best job possible,' " she said.

The job of a presidential campaign manager is notorious for chewing up and spitting out talented politicos, a ripe target for second-guessing. "The very best people-you're walking on a very, very high wire, and there ain't no net," said John Podesta, the former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton.

Solis Doyle is the daughter of Mexican immigrants. She grew up in the Pilsen neighborhood in a family where her parents instilled a striving nature in their children. She earned a merit scholarship to Northwestern University, then took a job in City Hall.

But from the time she linked up with Clinton in 1992, unlike many political operatives, she has been hitched to the same star.

"She's a total package of what I would want if somebody was going to manage a huge endeavor like a presidential campaign," Clinton said.

And Solis Doyle said it was almost a fluke that she wound up working for Clinton. Having just finished working on Mayor Richard Daley's first mayoral campaign, she was eager for the adrenaline of another political race.

David Wilhelm, Daley's campaign manager, was headed to Little Rock to run Bill Clinton's presidential bid. He urged Solis to come along, telling her that the Arkansas governor would probably not win and she would be back home soon.

"The day I was to arrive was the day Hillary said, 'Hey I need some help, I can?t do this all myself,' " recalled Solis Doyle.

"And David said, I've got this great girl coming from Chicago. And she said, 'Oh Chicago, I'm from Chicago,' and the rest is history."

Clinton has turned to her repeatedly since then.

In 2000, Clinton asked her to go to New York and impose order on battling consultants in her unruly Senate campaign. Later, she asked Solis Doyle to leave the private sector job she had held for all of six months to return to her political action committee.

"She is the one who Hillary relies on the most. They are very much in sync. They have a shorthand way of talking," said a senior adviser to the campaign who is close to both but asked not to be identified. "Patti is not afraid to come with bad news, and she tells Hillary what Hillary needs to know, and Hillary does the same."

Harold Ickes, a longtime friend of the Clintons' who serves as an adviser to Solis Doyle, defends her against those who might privately suggest she isn't the best political professional for the job.

"Patti knows what she doesn't know," Ickes said. "She's not a paid media expert, she's not a polling expert, she's not necessarily a communications expert. Over the years, she and Hillary have assembled a toplevel management team. Patti's role is to manage that team and to make sure the best is gotten out of each particular person."

Clinton trusts her

Solis Doyle said she has something that not all campaign managers have-the trust of the candidate.

"Everything I've done has prepared me to run Hillary's presidential campaign," she said. "I know how she's going to react to certain things. I know how she likes things done. I know her history. I know her past. I know relationships. I have skills in management, skills in fundraising. I have skills in Hillary Clinton, and I think that makes me uniquely qualified to run this campaign."

Her new role comes at a juncture when Latinos are the fastest- growing demographic in the United States and a potentially rich source of votes. It also comes amid a contentious debate about immigration.

In fact, Solis Doyle's father, Santiago, came to this country illegally in the late 1940s from Monterrey, Mexico. He had a 3rd-grade education and wanted to do better for his family, said Danny Solis.

Santiago Solis was so impressed with the opportunities America had to offer that he returned to his family in Mexico and applied to come to the United States legally. He moved to Chicago in the early 1950s, then sent for his wife, Alejandrina, and four children. Patti was the sixth and last child, born in Chicago.

Santiago Solis worked day and night shifts as a machine operator for a furniture company; Alejandrina worked in a laundry. They bought a house, paying it off in five years, and put all six children through parochial school.

Santiago Solis, who died of lung disease in 1998, pushed his children to get an education, and held on to every photograph, award and symbol of their success.

"He would say, 'Whatever you do, make yourself of value,' " Danny Solis said during an interview across from his City Hall office.

A control freak, family jokes

Solis Doyle's family jokes that she is a control freak, and her reluctance to become more public is apparent. She canceled a scheduled interview with her mother, then relented when her brother Danny urged her to allow their mother to show off her collection of framed photos of family members with the Clintons at the White House. She called her mother before and after a reporter's visit.

"I'm not comfortable with it. That's no secret," she acknowledged.

Senior advisers to the campaign say they are frustrated that she is so reluctant to speak publicly for the campaign.

"I have said to her, one of the roles of campaign manager is more of a public face," Ickes said.

"y biggest complaint about her is that she prefers to labor in obscurity and you cannot do that as a campaign manager," said one top adviser to Clinton who asked not to be identified.

"Part of what we're trying to do is get her out there a little bit more. She is a very reluctant public person."

She may be reluctant, but colleagues also say she is determined.

"If there's something on the other side of the wall that you need, Patti either goes over the wall, through the wall, around the wall, or if need be, under the wall," said Chris Lehane, who worked with her at the White House during the Whitewater investigation. "She just gets to the other side."