Donna Brazile is Chair of the Democratic National Committee's Voting Rights Institute (VRI) and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. The VRI was established in 2001 to help protect and promote the rights of all Americans to participate in the political process.
Brazile, a veteran Democratic political strategist, is the former Campaign Manager for Gore-Lieberman 2000 � the first African American to lead a major presidential campaign.
Prior to joining the Gore campaign, Brazile was Chief of Staff and Press Secretary to Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia where she helped guide the District's budget and local legislation on Capitol Hill.
Brazile is a weekly contributor and political commentator on CNN's Inside Politics and American Morning. In addition, she is a columnist for Roll Call Newspaper and appears regularly on MSNBC's Hardball and Fox's Hannity and Colmes.
During the 2002 mid-term election, Brazile traveled to over 29 states and 53 congressional districts to help train Democratic activists. At the conclusion of the 2002 mid-term elections, Brazile served as a media consultant and grassroots organizer for Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA).
A veteran of numerous national and statewide campaigns, Brazile worked on several presidential campaigns for Democratic candidates, including Carter-Mondale in 1976 and 1980, Rev. Jesse Jackson�s first historic bid for the presidency in 1984, Mondale-Ferraro in 1984, U.S. Representative Dick Gephardt in 1988, Dukakis-Bentsen in 1988, and Clinton-Gore in 1992 and 1996.
In addition to working on political campaigns, Brazile has served as a senior lecturer and adjunct professor at the University of Maryland and a fellow at Harvard�s Institute of Politics.
Brazile is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including Washingtonian Magazine�s 100 Most Powerful Women in Washington, D.C., Essence Magazine�s 50 Most Powerful Women in America and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation�s Award for Political Achievement.
Brazile, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana earned her undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. She is currently the Founder and Managing Director of Brazile and Associates, a political consulting and grassroots advocacy firm based in the District of Columbia.
Cooking With Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics
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Amazon
ISBN: 0743253981
Format: Hardcover, 256pp
Pub. Date: June 2004
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Cooking with Grease is a powerful, behind-the-scenes memoir of the life and times of a tenacious political organizer and the first African-American woman to head a major presidential campaign.
Donna Brazile fought her first political fight at age nine -- campaigning (successfully) for a city council candidate who promised a playground in her neighborhood. The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, she committed her heart and her future to political and social activism. By the 2000 presidential election, Brazile had become a major player in American political history -- and she remains one of the most outspoken and forceful political activists of our day.
Donna grew up one of nine children in a working-poor family in New Orleans, a place where talking politics comes as naturally as stirring a pot of seafood gumbo -- and where the two often go hand in hand. Growing up, Donna learned how to cook from watching her mother, Jean, stir the pots in their family kitchen. She inherited her love of reading and politics from her grandmother Frances. Her brothers Teddy Man and Chet worked as foot soldiers in her early business schemes and voter registration efforts.
Cooking with Grease follows Donna's rise to greater and greater political and personal accomplishments: lobbying for student financial aide, organizing demonstrations to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday and working on the Jesse Jackson, Dick Gephardt, Michael Dukakis and Bill Clinton presidential campaigns. But each new career success came with its own kind of heartache, especially in her greatest challenge: leading Al Gore's 2000 campaign, making her the first African American to lead a major presidential campaign.
Cooking with Grease is an intimate account of Donna's thirty years in politics.
Her stories of the leaders and activists who have helped shape America's future
are both inspiring and memorable. Donna's witty style and innovative political
strategies have garnered her the respect and admiration of colleagues and
adversaries alike -- she is as comfortable trading quips with J. C. Watts as she
is with her Democratic colleagues. Her story is as warm and nourishing as a bowl
of Brazile family gumbo.
Donna L. Brazile
Brazile and Associates, LLC
1001 G Street, NW
Suite 1001
Washington, DC 20001
Related Links
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Website
COOKING WITH GREASE by Donna L. Brazile
Stirring the Pots In American Politics
www.cookingwithgrease.com
Voting Rights Institute
http://www.democrats.org/vri/brazile.html
Donna Brazile is Chair of the Democratic National Committee's Voting Rights Institute (VRI). The VRI was established in 2001 to help protect and promote the rights of all Americans to participate in the political process.
Roll Call The Newspaper of Capital Hill Since 1955
http://www.rollcall.com/pub/brazile/