SARATOGA SPRINGS - Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is entrusting his White House aspirations to a 1993 Saratoga Springs High School graduate.
Matt Rhoades, 37, is Romney's low-profile but highly influential national campaign manager, meeting daily with the candidate and engineering his bid to become the nation's 45th chief executive.
After Saratoga High, Rhoades graduated from Syracuse University in 1997, got heavily involved with GOP politics and spent two years in the White House under former President George W. Bush before becoming Romney's communications director during the 2008 campaign.
"I'm always working in the Boston headquarters now," Rhoades said.
His father, Paul, grew up on Clinton Street in Saratoga Springs and now lives in Virginia. However, Rhoades' aunt, Carole Cogan, still lives on Caroline Street.
"I had Matt in a U.S. history class," said Dave Paterson, a Saratoga Springs High School teacher. "He was smart, very quick-witted and even then had an interest in politics. I'm happy to see the success that he's had and is having."
Like many local young people, Rhoades said one of his favorite memories was his time spent working at Saratoga Race Course.
"Once I turned 16, I worked at the flat track every summer until I graduated from Syracuse," he said.
He earned a master's degree from George Washington University in 1999, got his start working for the Republican National Committee and was on hand for the famous 2000 Florida recount as an RNC research analyst. When the Supreme Court finally determined that Bush would become president, Rhoades went to work for him at the White House as associate director for presidential personnel (2001), followed by a stint (2001-03) as White House liaison for the Office of Personnel Management.
In early 2003, he went back to the RNC and joined the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign as research director. His opposition work created major problems for Bush's rival, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., on national security issues.
A recent Washington Post article, citing The Hotline, said, "Campaign officials credit him with doing more than just about any other staffer to define John Kerry as weak, wimpy, French and flip-floppy - an unacceptable commander in chief."
From 2007 to 2010, Rhoades was vice president of the DCI Group, a Washington, D.C., communications company. Despite this private-sector position, he remained active in politics and left the firm in 2010 to become the head of Romney's Free & Strong America political action committee.
The Washington Post quoted U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., as saying, "When you see the intense focus and discipline of the Romney campaign, you are seeing in large part Matt Rhoades."
Rhoades rarely travels with or is seen with Romney, but with the former Massachusetts governor closing in on the GOP nomination, Rhoades will no doubt become more familiar to millions of Americans, with even bigger things to come if Romney becomes president.
Rhoades told the Washington Post, "As president, Mitt Romney will bring conservative change that lowers taxes, controls spending and streamlines government. ... To change Washington, we need someone from outside Washington."
Matt Rhoades, 37, is Romney's low-profile but highly influential national campaign manager, meeting daily with the candidate and engineering his bid to become the nation's 45th chief executive.
After Saratoga High, Rhoades graduated from Syracuse University in 1997, got heavily involved with GOP politics and spent two years in the White House under former President George W. Bush before becoming Romney's communications director during the 2008 campaign.
"I'm always working in the Boston headquarters now," Rhoades said.
His father, Paul, grew up on Clinton Street in Saratoga Springs and now lives in Virginia. However, Rhoades' aunt, Carole Cogan, still lives on Caroline Street.
"I had Matt in a U.S. history class," said Dave Paterson, a Saratoga Springs High School teacher. "He was smart, very quick-witted and even then had an interest in politics. I'm happy to see the success that he's had and is having."
Like many local young people, Rhoades said one of his favorite memories was his time spent working at Saratoga Race Course.
"Once I turned 16, I worked at the flat track every summer until I graduated from Syracuse," he said.
He earned a master's degree from George Washington University in 1999, got his start working for the Republican National Committee and was on hand for the famous 2000 Florida recount as an RNC research analyst. When the Supreme Court finally determined that Bush would become president, Rhoades went to work for him at the White House as associate director for presidential personnel (2001), followed by a stint (2001-03) as White House liaison for the Office of Personnel Management.
In early 2003, he went back to the RNC and joined the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign as research director. His opposition work created major problems for Bush's rival, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., on national security issues.
A recent Washington Post article, citing The Hotline, said, "Campaign officials credit him with doing more than just about any other staffer to define John Kerry as weak, wimpy, French and flip-floppy - an unacceptable commander in chief."
From 2007 to 2010, Rhoades was vice president of the DCI Group, a Washington, D.C., communications company. Despite this private-sector position, he remained active in politics and left the firm in 2010 to become the head of Romney's Free & Strong America political action committee.
The Washington Post quoted U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., as saying, "When you see the intense focus and discipline of the Romney campaign, you are seeing in large part Matt Rhoades."
Rhoades rarely travels with or is seen with Romney, but with the former Massachusetts governor closing in on the GOP nomination, Rhoades will no doubt become more familiar to millions of Americans, with even bigger things to come if Romney becomes president.
Rhoades told the Washington Post, "As president, Mitt Romney will bring conservative change that lowers taxes, controls spending and streamlines government. ... To change Washington, we need someone from outside Washington."
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