Eileen McMenamin
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Eileen McMenamin is the Vice President of Communications at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank founded in 2007 by former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell, that is dedicated to developing bipartisan solutions to the country’s most difficult public policy challenges. McMenamin manages the organization's strategic communications, overall messaging, and daily press operation. Prior to joining the BPC, McMenamin was the Communications Director for U.S. Senator John McCain, serving as his chief spokesperson, formulating communications strategy and overseeing the senator’s press operation on Capitol Hill.

McMenamin brings experience and knowledge from both sides of the media-political spectrum, having worked as a political producer for ABC News and CNN in Washington, D.C., New York and London. As a journalist, McMenamin spent considerable time on the campaign trail, covering the 1996 and 2000 presidential races for ABC News. In 2004, McMenamin covered the presidential campaign for CNN, producing live programs including “Crossfire” and “Inside Politics with Judy Woodruff” from the campaign trail during the primaries, debates, conventions, Election Day and the Inauguration.

Previously, McMenamin worked in New York and London as a producer for ABC's “Good Morning America.” She was also a producer for CNN's “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer,” "Crossfire," and "Inside Politics Sunday." McMenamin got her start in journalism working as a researcher for David Brinkley, George Will, Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts on the program “This Week with David Brinkley.” McMenamin is the recipient of the 2005 DuPont Award for CNN coverage of the tsunami disaster in South Asia. She is a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C.

Blog Entries by Eileen McMenamin

Rock Me Like a Herman Cain, Stephen Colbert and Herman Cain Host Rally to Highlight Super PACs

Posted January 23, 2012 | 01/23/12 01:04 PM ET

There was a gospel choir, a marching band, a campaign bus, and signs that said "Rock me like a Herman Cain." At the College of Charleston yesterday, on the eve of the South Carolina GOP primary, Stephen Colbert and Herman Cain joined forces, hosting a rally to highlight the ability...

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Santorum Stands Apart on Coming Together

1 Comments | Posted January 11, 2012 | 01/11/12 01:13 PM ET

(Des Moines) -- It's a measure of the frustration with Washington's ongoing partisan stalemate that even in a GOP presidential race, participants in the Iowa caucuses -- ostensibly a supremely partisan exercise -- routinely asked Republican candidates how they would instill more cooperation between the parties in the nation's capital....

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Will Santorum's Surge Travel?

9 Comments | Posted January 3, 2012 | 01/03/12 08:42 PM ET

Senator Rick Santorum's last-minute surge in Iowa just days before the first 2012 caucuses has some people scratching theirs heads, wondering how a candidate who was polling in the single digits only weeks ago is now widely predicted to finish in the top three in tonight's GOP contest.  

As...

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Money Changes Everything: Will the Battle Over the Budget Derail All Bipartisan Cooperation in 2011?

Posted February 1, 2011 | 02/01/11 11:32 AM ET

With a bipartisan afterglow still in the air on the morning after the State of the Union -- the result of members of Congress agreeing to sit with "dates" from the other side of the aisle during the president's speech -- a collection of senior lawmakers gathered at a Washington...

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Lame Duck Congressmen Candidly Discuss a Flawed Political System

Posted December 23, 2010 | 12/23/10 04:00 PM ET

If the truth shall set you free, then losing an election might mark the first step towards freedom. At a recent discussion by four newly defeated members of Congress, truth was on vivid display as they reflected upon their political careers with great candor. "There's a new definition of bipartisanship...

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Want Bipartisanship? Let's Talk

Posted May 25, 2010 | 05/25/10 05:59 PM ET

As President Obama heads up to Capitol Hill today to meet with Senate Republicans, a few questions come to mind, the first being: Why don't the president and the Republicans in Congress get together like this more often?

The last time President Obama met with Senate Republicans was shortly...

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A VIP Seat to History: Photographer David Hume Kennerly

Posted July 6, 2009 | 07/06/09 01:40 PM ET

If journalism is a front row seat to history, photographer David Hume Kennerly has been sitting in the VIP section. At seemingly every major political event that is photographed for history, one can catch a glimpse of Kennerly hard at work, either right in the heart of the action or...

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A Bipartisan Road to Health Care Reform?

Posted March 11, 2009 | 03/11/09 03:54 PM ET

At a panel discussion last week in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol, the elements of a potential deal on health care reform began to come into sight. The moderator honed in on the pressure points on either side. He asked Karen Ignagni, President of America's Health Insurance Plans, whether...

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GOP Governors Sound Bipartisan Notes

Posted February 27, 2009 | 02/27/09 04:30 PM ET

Anyone watching the Sunday talk shows this week might be forgiven for thinking bipartisanship is in the air. Despite the fact that President Barack Obama's federal stimulus plan received only three Republican votes in the U.S. Senate, some Republican governors seem to be ready to reach across the political aisle...

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