Stephanie Cutter Picked To Run White House Health Care Messaging

The White House has appointed Stephanie Cutter as the new Assistant to the President for Special Projects, a position that will make her an integral part of the battle to capitalize on the passage of health care reform and other policy issues going into the 2010 election cycle.

"Stephanie is one of the most respected professionals in public affairs and has an innate understanding of the nexus between policy and communications," President Obama said in a statement. "She's also a veteran of the White House, and I'm thrilled to have her on board in this new role."

It will not be Cutter's first stint in the Obama administration. Previously she was senior adviser and chief of staff to Michelle Obama, counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and is credited with shaping then-Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's image.

She spent some of her time away from the Obama administration as a fellow and lecturer at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Cutter cut her teeth in high-level politics during the Clinton administration as Deputy Communications Director and as Associate Administrator for Communications at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. After serving as Communications Director for Senator Edward Kennedy and later for the Democratic National Committee, she was appointed Communications Director for John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.

Cutter's selection comes just weeks after Linda Douglass, a key player on the health care messaging front announced that she was stepping down.

She will start the job on May 1st.