Mark McKinnon

Career

Early career

Mark McKinnon was born in Boulder, Colorado, and was raised in Denver. He performed in a band called Daybreak and, following his junior year, dropped out of high school and hitchhiked to Nashville, Tennessee. There he began his career as a songwriter and worked alongside Kris Kristofferson. McKinnon returned to Denver to complete high school, then made his way back to Nashville to continue pursuing music. He was named the "New Folk" winner at the 1975 Kerrville Folk Festival.

In 1976, McKinnon moved to Austin, Texas, He left the university before completing his undergraduate work.

Democratic campaigns

McKinnon's first political campaign experience was volunteering for then Texas State Senator Lloyd Doggett's 1984 U.S. Senate campaign, McKinnon then worked for former Texas Governor Mark White during his 1985–1986 re-election campaign,

After returning to Texas, McKinnon joined the firm Public Strategies, Inc. in 1990, including those of Governor Ann Richards (1990), In 1994, McKinnon worked on Bob Bullock's re-election campaign for Lieutenant Governor of Texas. In 1996, he announced that he was shifting gears and leaving partisan politics. In his Texas Monthly article entitled "The Spin Doctor Is Out", McKinnon wrote that he "won't miss desperate candidates, manic campaign managers and last-minute attack and response ads".

Work for George W. Bush

McKinnon returned to politics after meeting then Governor George W. Bush at a dinner at the governor's mansion. Following this encounter, McKinnon and Bush developed a personal relationship. According to Karl Rove, "Bush and McKinnon clicked from moment one. In a bow to McKinnon's cool image, Bush dubbed him 'M-Kat. Of his relationship with Bush, McKinnon said, "We had a personal relationship before we had a professional relationship. And when Texas' Democratic lieutenant governor Bob Bullock endorsed Bush over the Democratic gubernatorial nominee — his own god-son — well that's when I crossed the bridge. But it was not an easy decision."

During a Frontline interview describing the former president's ascendance into the national political arena, McKinnon said, "Governor Bush was doing some things that really got my attention. He was talking about education reform. He was talking about immigration reform. He was talking about issues that had typically been Democratic issues. He was talking about them in a really compassionate way." McKinnon said that he was particularly "impressed with how he'd gotten ahead of the Republican Party".

After being recommended to Bush by Bullock, McKinnon led the advertising and media team for Bush's gubernatorial campaign in 1998. He worked on Bush's first presidential campaign as the chief media advisor, directing the advertising effort in 2000, a role he would reprise in the 2004 elections.

Work for John McCain

McKinnon began serving as the principal media advisor for Senator McCain's presidential bid for the Republican primaries in January, 2007, but decided to leave the campaign on May 21, 2008. Explaining his decision, McKinnon said that he preferred not to campaign against Illinois Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for president because Obama's election "would send a great message to the country and the world." In leaving his advisory role, McKinnon said he preferred to be a "fan, friend, and cheerleader" for McCain's campaign, but preferred not to be the "tip of the spear in attacking him [Obama]."

On August 27, 2008, the Dallas Morning News reported that McKinnon helped Cindy McCain in her preparation for her GOP convention speech. At this time McKinnon clarified that he was not returning to his role as media advisor to the McCain campaign, but that he was instead helping the McCains out of his "friendship" to them. According to Rory O'Connor from The Huffington Post, McKinnon felt that he was keeping true to his pledge in not attacking Obama by only "acting as a facilitator to help with Cindy's speech. That means helping to identify speechwriters, Mari Will and Lionel Chetwynd, and working with them and Cindy on the speech." O'Connor also noted that McKinnon said that he was not helping the McCain campaign with advertising.

Although it was also reported by Vanity Fair that McKinnon had returned to the McCain campaign to prepare Sarah Palin for the United States vice-presidential debate, 2008, in their book Game Change (2010), journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin suggest that McKinnon was extremely reluctant to help coach Palin for the debate. According to the duo, "(Rick) Davis had pleaded with Mark McKinnon, who had decided to sit out the general election because he wanted no part of flaying Obama, to ride to their rescue; he agreed, but just for that one night." In Game Change, it is reported that McKinnon was not impressed with Palin's performance during the run-through before the debate. When one of McCain's campaign advisors asked him what he thought about Palin's practice runs, McKinnon replied "Oh.My.God."

Media career and political reform efforts

McKinnon developed the show concept, co-created, co-hosts, and serves as co-executive producer of Showtime's real-time political documentary series, The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth. He also served as a consultant for the political drama television series, The Newsroom (HBO)The Newsroom:

and House of Cards (Netflix). McKinnon has been a regular columnist for The Daily Beast and The Daily Telegraph (London).

He was a fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy (2007, 2011) and the Harvard Institute of Politics (2012). In addition to Harvard, McKinnon has lectured at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He currently serves on the advisory board for the Austin Film Society.

McKinnon has also dedicated much effort toward political reform. He is a co-founder of the bi-partisan organization No Labels, which advocates nonpartisan solutions to political and social problems. He has served on the boards of non-profit organizations countering the influence of money in politics, including CounterPAC, Mayday PAC, and Take Back Our Republic. He co-chaired for Arts+Labs and served on the boards of the Livestrong Foundation and Change Congress, an organization dedicated to campaign finance reform. Following Lance Armstrong's admission to doping, McKinnon felt "betrayed" by Armstrong and supported the board's effort to distance the organization from its founder.

McKinnon helped lead the effort to overturn the United States' same-sex marriage ban by serving as co-chair of Southerners for the Freedom to Marry, alongside Julian Castro. In 2013, he was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case.

Personal life

McKinnon is a two-time Ironman Triathlon finisher and an avid bicyclist.Ironman Triathlon:

• Bicycling:
• He has a tattoo on his right arm of the number "40," in remembrance of the NFL football player and US soldier, Pat Tillman, who was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. He met his wife Annie before he could drive; they now have two grown daughters.

References

References

1. (September 2008). "Leave It To Weaver".
2. "Presidential Nomination: Mark David McKinnon".
3. "Author Page Mark McKinnon". The Daily Beast.
4. "ADVISORY COUNCIL - Mark McKinnon". The Hamilton Project.
5. "Board of Advisors". [[Americans Elect]].
6. (June 24, 2014). "Tech Moguls raise cash to fight Washington's Big Money Problem". [[Business Insider]].
7. Margolin, Emma. (February 26, 2014). "Marriage equality advocates fly South, and not just for winter". [[MSNBC]].
8. Gold, Matea. (January 13, 2015). "New conservative group aims to build GOP support for reducing influence of big donors". [[The Washington Post]].
9. "Who We Are". Grady College and University of Georgia.
10. "About {{!}} Represent.Us". End corruption. Defend the Republic..
11. Leeds, Jeff. (October 7, 2000). "For One Ad Man, a Leap of Faith". [[Los Angeles Times]].
12. Brendel, Patrick. (May 14, 2008). "Where are they now? Mark McKinnon". [[Houston Chronicle]].
13. McKinnon, Mark. (February 22, 2010). "The Gift of Cancer". [[IAC (company).
14. (1981). "Alternative Views #126,127: BOYS FOR SALE (PARTS I&II)".
15. (November 1996). "The Spin Doctor Is Out". [[Emmis Communications]].
16. O'Connor, Rory. (May 25, 2011). "The Best Reason to Support Obama". [[The Huffington Post]].
17. Bedford, Tori. (February 5, 2016). "Mark McKinnon: Politics, Predictions, And Producing The Circus". [[WGBH-TV]].
18. Rove, Karl. (2010). "Courage and Consequence". Threshold Editions.
19. (12 April 2005). "The Architect – Karl Rove – Interview with Mark McKinnon". [[PBS]].
20. Rove, Karl. (2010). "Courage and Consequence". Threshold Editions.
21. "Mark McKinnon Interview on Charlie Rose". CharlieRose.com.
22. (May 20, 2008). "Mark McKinnon, true to vow, exits McCain team rather than fight Obama". Los Angeles Times.
23. O'Connor, Rory. (September 27, 2008). "NBC Wrong on McCain/McKinnon Claim". The Huffington Post.
24. McKinnon, Mark. (July 4, 2009). "How Her Mind Works". The Huffington Post.
25. (August 27, 2008). "Texas consultant Mark McKinnon, who quit McCain campaign, lends Cindy McCain a hand". Dallas Morning News.
26. (June 30, 2009). "It Came from Wasilla". [[Condé Nast]].
27. (2010). "Game Change". Harper Collins.
28. Adams, Myra. (January 18, 2016). "On the Bus and in the Arena with Cruz and Sanders and Trump: The Insiders' View on The Circus". [[National Review]].
29. Gold, Hadas. (December 15, 2015). "John Heilemann, Mark Halperin, Mark McKinnon launching Showtime series". [[Capitol News Company]].
30. (17 January 2016). "Mark McKinnon". [[Showtime (TV network).
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32. "Past Fellows and Visiting Faculty: Spring 2007 Fellows". [[Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy]].
33. "Past Fellows and Visiting Faculty: Fall 2011 Fellows". Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.
34. "Harvard's Institute of Politics Leads National Effort to Foster Youth Political Engagement". The President and Fellows of Harvard College.
35. (March 2020). "Political insiders to teach new course on American political campaigns at LBJ School of Public Affairs". [[Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs]].
36. (October 2, 2007). ""Message" presentation in P A 388K – Advanced Topics in Public Policy: Modern American Political Campaigns". Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.
37. "Board of Directors". [[Austin Film Society]].
38. Oliphant, James. (September 26, 2010). "Tired of 'tea party' sniping, moderates organize". Los Angeles Times.
39. Hodge, Shelby. (June 2, 2010). "Houston ground zero for a radical political movement reaching both Democrats and Republicans". Culture Map Houston.
40. "About Us". Arts+Labs.
41. "Mark McKinnon". Aspen Ideas Festival.
42. Baumann, Nick. (January 22, 2010). "Blame Bush for Citizens United". Foundation for National Progress.
43. Burnett, John. (January 16, 2013). "Austin Measures Fallout from Lance Armstrong Scandal". [[NPR]].
44. Albergotti, Reed. (November 15, 2012). "Livestrong Erases Armstrong from Name". [[The Wall Street Journal]].
45. Hall, Michael. (March 2013). "The Man Who Fell to Earth". Texas Monthly.
46. Avlon, John. (February 28, 2013). "The Pro-Freedom Republicans Are Coming: 131 Sign Gay-Marriage Brief".
47. "Mark McKinnon".