Who is Julianna Smoot (other than Lon Johnson's wife)?

Right to left: Lon Johnson, Julianna Smoot, Linda Daschle, and former Sen. Tom Daschle

It’s probably safe to say that Lon Johnson would not have been able to come out of the woodwork -- actually, out of the woods of Kalkaska County -- and instantly become a frontrunner for Michigan Democratic Party chairman if not for his wife, Julianna Smoot.

After all, to say Smoot is well-connected is like saying Barack Obama is a good public speaker.

Democrats who are wired-in know that Smoot was the deputy campaign manager for President Obama’s 2012 re-election effort. Some may also know that she served as national finance director for the 2008 Obama campaign, which raised more money (at the time) than any campaign in U.S. history.

But the Democratic Party star has a sterling resume that spans far beyond just the two Obama campaigns.

In 2010-11 she served as White House Social Secretary (taking over when Desiree Rogers was forced to resign) and as a deputy assistant to the president.

Her political career initially blossomed when she signed on as finance director for John Edwards’ 1998 Senate campaign in her home state of North Carolina. Eventually, she worked on Senate campaigns for Tom Daschle, Dick Durbin, Jay Rockefeller, Chris Dodd and Harry Reid. Quite a lineup.

In 2006, she established a national reputation when she raised record sums as finance director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, working under Chuck Schumer.

In a September 2012 feature story on Smoot, the Charlotte Observer reported that she grew up as a Southern debutante who later graduated from Smith College and quickly found her calling in politics.

Here’s a portion of that report:

“In fact, Smoot, 45, has been one of the top Democratic fundraisers in the country for years. … She knows hundreds of the biggest Democratic donors across the country, and she hounds them with the persistence of a hard-driving sales manager, softened by her Southern charm, which is a mixture of ‘yes sirs, no sirs,’ an easy laugh, studied flattery, and a fast-talking drawl.”

Smoot also had a stint as chief of staff to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk in 2011-12. At that time, she had risen through the ranks of the Washington elite. The Observer noted this:

“In March (2012), Smoot made the fashionable ELLE magazine’s ‘Capital Dames 10 Powerful Women’ list along with the UN Ambassador Susan Rice, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and journalist Christiane Amanpour. By then, Smoot was actually back in Chicago at Obama headquarters raising money for the president’s re-election.”

Smoot married Johnson, whom ELLE described as her "longtime beau," on Oct. 22, 2011, at a ceremony in Northport, Mich.  After a grueling presidential campaign, Johnson said his wife is living with him in the Kalkaska area.

Smoot joined the incarnation of Obama For America, which last month became Organizing For America. The new OFA will be led by much of the Obama White House/campaign inner circle  – David Axelrod, David Plouffe, Jim Messina and Robert Gibbs.

Smoot serves on the OFA board of directors but has no day-to-day role in the Chicago-based nonprofit, according to her husband.

According to one Dem insider, partly because of the long list of big-wigs on his wife's speed-dial, Johnson's biggest supporters say he will far exceed the fundraising abilities of current party chairman Mark Brewer. Apparently the figures that are thrown around are a $6 million to $7 million war chest for 2014, which Brewer backers scoff at as wishful thinking.

But it sounds like Johnson is telling the party faithful: In two years, you will be blown away.