Ben Goddard (October 17, 1942 – June 15, 2018) was a political consultant and founding partner of First Tuesday, Goddard Claussen, Goddard Global, and

Goddard Gunster Goddard Gunster is an American lobbying firm and referendum specialist founded by the late Ben Goddard. Its current president is Gerry Gunster. Leave.EU In 2016 Goddard Gunster were engaged (through businessman Arron Banks) by Leave.EU, a politi ...

. He is widely regarded as the godfather of issue advocacy advertising and is credited with creating the genre of national issue advocacy advertising with the Harry & Louise campaign, paid for by private health insurance companies to help defeat the

Clinton health care plan of 1993 The Clinton health care plan was a 1993 healthcare reform package proposed by the administration of President Bill Clinton and closely associated with the chair of the task force devising the plan, First Lady of the United States Hillary Clinton ...

Career and accomplishments

He was president of the International Association of Political Consultants, and was a featured columnist in '' The Hill'' newspaper, providing reviews and comments on campaign messages and strategies. Notable Goddard campaigns include Harry & Louise, the Pacific Life Whales, and Prop 187 in California. According to the Goddard Gunster website, Goddard has received dozens of awards for creativity, including a television

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

, and his commercials are part of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

permanent collection. In the 1970s and 1980s Goddard served as a media consultant to candidates for state and national office including

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

Gary Hart Gary Warren Hart (''né'' Hartpence; born November 28, 1936) is an American politician, diplomat, and lawyer. He was the front-runner for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination until he dropped out amid revelations of extramarital affairs. ...

Mo Udall Morris King "Mo" Udall (June 15, 1922 – December 12, 1998) was an American attorney and Democratic politician who served as a U.S. representative from Arizona from May 2, 1961, to May 4, 1991. He was a leading contender for the 1976 Democ ...

and

Bruce Babbitt The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been a ...

. In addition to his work in the United States, Goddard also created the first political advertising in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

to preserve

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

's free-market reforms. Goddard married Louise Caire Clark, the actress who played Louise in his Harry & Louise ad campaign. He died on June 15, 2018, following "years of challenging and debilitating medical issues".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goddard, Ben American advertising people 1943 births 2018 deaths The Hill (newspaper) journalists Businesspeople from Idaho American political consultants