"Election 2020 Outlook" with Joel Benenson & Susan Del Percio

The Common Good hosted Democratic Pollster and former Obama campaign advisor Joel Benenson and renowned Republican Strategist Susan Del Percio for a discussion on competing strategies. The conversation dove into plans and ideas for their parties as they battle to win the House, the Senate and the White House. 

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Mr. Joel Benenson, founder and CEO of the Benenson Strategy Group, is one of the leading political and corporate strategists in the world. Benenson led the award-winning research and polling programs for President Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns and is the only Democratic pollster in history to have played a leading role in three winning presidential campaigns. 

Named "Pollster of the Year" by the American Association of Political Consultants and ranked among the "most powerful" people in D.C. by GQ, Benenson has left his mark at the highest level of politics. In addition to his role with President Obama, Benenson served as Senior Strategist to Hillary Clinton. He also worked on President Bill Clinton’s team during the 1996 race.

Benenson’s communications expertise, which led him to be a member of three presidential debate teams, has also made him a go-to consultant for C-suite executives seeking communications advice on both internal and external challenges. In the private and advocacy sectors specifically, his nuanced analytical approach, and ability to craft deft, winning strategies has powered organizations such as AARP, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Football League, Toyota, and Procter & Gamble.

Ms. Susan Del Percio is a New York-based Republican strategist and founder of Susan Del Percio Strategies, she has advised dozens of candidates in New York and elsewhere on successfully communicating messages to an electorate. Ms. Del Percio has served as a media spokeswoman on many campaigns, both political and corporate, and frequently appears on many local and national news outlets as a political analyst. Susan is also an MSNBC contributor. She served in the Giuliani Administration and holds a Masters degree in political communications.

With nearly 30 years of experience in the political, government, nonprofit and private sector arenas, she is a trusted advisor helping leaders develop and execute focused strategic communications and winning crisis management campaigns. Her unique insights on government procedure, regulatory environments and public policy is highly sought after, especially now, with public affairs, policy and media so thoroughly intertwined.

Appointed as a Special Advisor to Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2014, she initiated and implemented communication strategies, and advised and developed policy initiatives. Susan also served as Deputy Commissioner in the Giuliani Administration (1995-2001) prior to founding her firm in 2001. Her client list includes large and mid-size private corporations, Fortune 50 executives, leading elected officials, political organizations and candidates as well as non-profits.

The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2016

The Common Good Forum focused on national security, economic prosperity, the 2016 election campaign, and investment advice presented by our long list of knowledgeable speakers to speak on each of these topics.

Our distinguished participants included:

• Joel Benenson, Democratic Pollster and Chief Strategist for Hillary For America

• Ian Bremmer, Founder & President of Eurasia Group and author of Superpower: Three Choices for America’s Role in the World

• David Burstein, CEO & Co-Founder of Run for America, commentator on Millennials, social innovation and politics, and author of Fast Future: How the Millennial Generation is Shaping our World

• Heidi Crebo-Rediker, Former Chief Economist at State Department and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)

• Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient

• Stephanie Cutter, Founding Partner at Precision Strategies and Former Deputy Campaign Manager for Obama 2012

• Seth Flaxman, Co-Founder of Democracy Works

• Senator Lindsey Graham, (R-SC), 2016 Presidential candidate

• William Galston, Former policy advisor to President Bill Clinton, Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution, and Wall Street Journal columnist

• Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Economist, President of the American Action Forum (AAF), and former Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)

• Abby Huntsman, Fox News reporter

• General (Ret.) Ron Keys, USAF, Advisory Board Member of the Center for Climate and Security

• Ted Koppel, Legendary journalist, former anchor of ABC’s Nightline, and author of Lights Out

• Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s Ambassador to the United States

• Larry Kudlow, CNBC Senior Contributor and economist

• Andrew McAfee, Technology and business expert, Co-Director of the MIT Initiative on Digital Economy, and author of The Second Machine Age

• Kayleigh McEnany, CNN Political Commentator and Trump supporter

• General (Ret.) David Petraeus, Former CIA Director, Former U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) Commander, and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute

• Governor Ed Rendell, Former Governor of Pennsylvania and Chair of the 2016 Democratic National Convention

• Alan Schwartz, Executive Chairman of Guggenheim Partners

• Stephanie Sharis, CEO DailyClout and creator of BillCam

• Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York Founder

• Michael Steele, Former RNC Chairman and MSNBC political analyst

• Jeanne Sullivan, Co-Founder of StarVest Partners

• Arun Sundararajan, Stern Professor and author of the upcoming book, The Sharing Economy

• Kim Taipale, Executive Director of the Stilwell Center for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology Policy

• Jacob Weisberg, Chairman of The Slate Group, whose roster includes Slate magazine

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