Sarah Kovner, a longtime Clinton backer who was present when Plouffe met with a group of Clinton supporters in New York recently, said, "Some people still had questions and they asked questions, and he was persuasive."
Though the Obama campaign is one of the best-funded in history, Plouffe is famously tight. Cab rides aren't reimbursed -- just subway fare. Staff members are asked to double up in hotels. And Axelrod tells a joke that underscores Plouffe's frugality: Wave your hand under the automatic towel dispensers in the restrooms at campaign headquarters and a towel comes out. Wave your hand a second time and a message pops up: "See Plouffe."
When Plouffe emerges in public, it is sometimes to throw an elbow. It was he who called Clinton "one of the most secretive politicians in America today" and questioned whether she would be "open and honest with the American people as president."
Sometimes the aggressiveness has backfired.
Earlier this year, Canadian television reported that an Obama economics advisor had told Canadian officials the Illinois senator's assault on the North American Free Trade Agreement amounted to political maneuvering. Plouffe, in a conference call with reporters, issued six denials in the space of 65 seconds. "There's just nothing to it," he declared.
A few days later, the Associated Press got hold of a memo from a Canadian official that showed a meeting had taken place, that NAFTA was discussed, and that the Canadians came away with the impression that Obama's criticism of free trade was political posturing.
"He went out and carried a message that he thought was true but wasn't," said Axelrod, who is partners with Plouffe in a Chicago-based political consulting firm.
As Plouffe looks toward November, he sees Obama as a candidate with the money, volunteers and organizational skill to rewrite the election map.
Laying out the strategy recently, Plouffe pointed to Virginia -- which hasn't gone Democratic in a presidential election since the 1960s. "Win Virginia," he said, "and it's game, set, match."
As for new voters, he said, "We know who these unregistered people are. . . . We're going to go where they live and we're going to convince them to register."
Other Democrats think Plouffe can succeed.
"Look at the history," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.). "Insurgents are supposed to have one day in the sun and lose. The establishment comes back and whacks you."
