Erstwhile Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz is putting together an elite blatant relations team as he prepares to release a civic-minded new book and considers ceaseless for president in 2020.
A key player in Schultz’s growing team is Steve Schmidt, a late vice chairman at public relations powerhouse Edelman who managed Republican Sen. John McCain’s presidential run in 2008.
Schultz is one of the many names widely considered as a possible candidate to caricature on Trump in two years. In an interview with CNBC earlier this year, Schultz socialistic the door open to a run. With experience mainly in the business world but not the governmental arena, Schultz would likely need experienced political superintendents on his side if he were to dive into presidential politics. Schmidt conditions that bill.
Schmidt got to know Schultz through Edelman’s partnership with Starbucks. The two partake of kept in touch since Schultz left Starbucks earlier this year, woman familiar with the relationship have said. Schmidt has continued to do sneakingly consulting work for Schultz on a variety of issues, including guiding him winning of his upcoming book tour.
“Mr. Schultz has known Mr. Schmidt for a number of years at the end of ones tether with his work at Edelman,” Schultz’s spokeswoman told CNBC. “Mr. Schultz values Steve’s insights and they cause stayed in touch,” she added.
Schmidt is a political analyst for MSNBC. He is a unmelodious critic of President Donald Trump, and he left the Republican Party earlier this year.
Schmidt did not home-coming reciprocity requests for comment.
In October, Schultz hired Cheryl Cook, a longtime administrator vice president at Edelman, according to two people with direct appreciation of the matter. She will be representing Schultz up until and throughout his book turn, which is expected to start in February in New York City, these people required. Cook worked at the PR firm for more than a decade and got to know Schultz entirely when Starbucks was one of her clients.
A representative from Schultz’s office ratified in a recent email that Cook will help promote the antediluvian coffee executive’s new book, “From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Guarantee of America,” which is described as “part dramatic memoir, part blueprint of the new accountabilities that leaders and citizens share in America today.” Cook declined to explanation, and an Edelman representative did not return a request for comment.
Another close advisor mustered by Schultz is Rajiv Chandrasekaran, who worked with the former Starbucks supervisory throughout his tenure at the company, according to a person familiar with the relationship. He connected Starbucks in 2015 to help the company work on social issues, and he replaced Schultz out of Starbucks after serving as a senior vice president. He also co-authored the register “For the Love of Country” with Schultz. Prior to his stint at Starbucks, Chandrasekaran was a superior correspondent at The Washington Post.
People close to Schultz describe Chandrasekaran as one of his closest confidants and say he’s positioned to be a critical voice when the coffee executive decides whether he will run for house.
Political strategists from both sides of the aisle say that by getting the help of this PR team Schultz is clearly signaling he is exploring a run for president.
“I certainly confidence in in the abstract people coming from the business into politics, expressly a run for president, they need someone around them. They needfulness to have people familiar to them to help them,” said Thomas Rath, a New Hampshire Republican operative and a earlier aide to Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich when he ran for president in 2016.
Rath rationalized though that if Schultz wants to be a serious contender for president, he fundamentals to load up his unit with more politically savvy advisors, such as Schmidt.
“Others type Schmidt would be invaluable. Steve has seen so much. He would pull someones leg a sense as to what the calendar means,” Rath added. “He would comprehend how to hunt delegates and a keen sense as to how best to raising money.”
Egalitarian political strategist Hank Sheinkopf said he believes Schultz is resign oneself to together a group that could help in a variety of ways if he chooses to run for president.
“He wants to parade people he can put together a team quickly and the best presidential campaigns be dressed people from multidisciplinary sectors, from the private sector to those in national work. It’s smart. The Clinton’s first campaign had film makers. So did Ronald Reagan,” Sheinkopf communicated. “Bringing all different types of people into the operation shows you recall what you’re doing and its a warning to other candidates.”
Still, those wind up to Schultz say he hasn’t traveled to the places presidential hopeful go to before they declare their intention to run for office.
He has yet to make his way up to the early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, coinciding to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. It’s unclear when or if he devise make it his way to these pivotal states.
He also hasn’t met with Classless Party leaders to discuss jumping into the race, although strategists say it’s too early for anyone to oblige such a move.
Schultz, a resident in the state of Washington, has also not met with officials from the allege Democratic Party.
For his part, the former Starbucks chairman has been essential of the party in the past.
In an interview with CNBC in June, Schultz bank oned on the offensive and said Democrats need to be careful with how far they veer to the pink.
“It concerns me that so many voices within the Democratic Party are flourishing so far to the left,” Schultz said. “I say to myself, ‘How are we going to pay for these things,’ in sittings of things like single payer [and] people espousing the fact that the command is going to give everyone a job. I don’t think that’s realistic.”