EXPERT ON:
◉ Inspirational Life Story
◉ Decision-Making & Emotional Intelligence
EXPERIENCE:
◉ Began his political career with George Washington University and served 13 years with Birch Bayh, rising to Executive Assistant and later Political Director during major Senate and presidential campaigns.
◉ Founder of Blaemire Communications, pioneering voter data and campaign technology for Democratic campaigns nationwide, later serving as Director of Business Development at Catalist.
◉ Author of Birch Bayh: Making a Difference, Unforced Errors: 15 Bad Decisions That Changed American History, and the novel The Athlete; served as a Fellow at the Robert Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas.
Robert Blaemire has been an active participant in politics all of his adult life. Born and raised in Indiana, his career began at the age of 18 upon entering George Washington University.
His employment with Senator Birch Bayh (D-IN) began in 1967 during Bob’s freshman year and concluded with Bayh’s unsuccessful re-election campaign in 1980 against Dan Quayle. Those 13 years saw Bob rise from volunteer worker to Office Manager to Executive Assistant in the Senate Office. His campaign experience with Bayh began by traveling with the candidate throughout the 1974 re-election campaign, continued with a variety of responsibilities in the 1976 Presidential campaign, and finally, as Political Director of the 1980 campaign.
Also during this period, Bob completed his B.A. in Political Science and his M.A. in Legislative Affairs at George Washington University.
After the 1980 defeat, he founded a political action committee, The Committee for American Principles, an organization seeking to combat the growing influence of the New Right in political campaigns.
He began his career providing political computer services in 1982, eventually joining with and starting the Washington Office of Below, Tobe & Associates. During the 3 plus decades he has worked in this area of politics, his clients have included the Dukakis for President Campaign, both Clinton-Gore campaigns, Gore-Lieberman, Kerry-Edwards, Obama-Biden, Clinton-Kaine, and dozens of Governor, Senate, Congres¬sional, Mayoral, and local campaigns and state Democratic Parties in 26 states.
In 1991, Bob created Blaemire Communications, a political computer services firm serving Democratic campaigns, progressive organizations and political consultants. During that time, Blaemire Communications managed more Democratic state party voter file projects than any other vendor.
In 2003, Blaemire Communications introduced Leverage, an on-line voter file management system that has been used extensively across the country in Democratic campaigns. In late 2007, Blaemire Communications was acquired by Catalist. He served there as Director of Business Development until leaving at the end of 2016 to pursue other consulting and writing opportunities. Bob’s first book was published in 2019, a biography of his former boss, Senator Birch Bayh.
In 2022, Bob served as a Fellow at the University of Kansas, on behalf of the Robert Dole Institute of Politics. Bob lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland and has two sons, Nick and Dan, two daughters-in-law, Ana Nogueira and Carly Jornlin, three grandchildren, Cooper, Faye, and Teddy and a significant other.


