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Berman is an expert in the complex system of how the Democratic
Party awards delegates during its presidential nominating
contest. His hiring as senior advisor for delegate strategy
indicates O'Rourke is digging in for a long delegate battle in a
huge Democratic field with 22 candidates so far.
Berman is the second former senior Obama official to join the
former Texas congressman's campaign. Jen O'Malley Dillon became
O'Rourke's campaign manager in March.
"Jeff was one of the first people I reached out to when I came
on board because delegate strategy is so critical to our overall
strategy," O'Malley Dillon said in a statement.
Unlike the Republican nominating system, where delegates in most
states are awarded on a winner-takes-all system, Democrats award
delegates on a proportional basis. That means a candidate does
not necessarily have to win individual primary elections and
caucuses to amass delegates.
The hiring of O'Malley Dillon and Berman reflects efforts by
O'Rourke to bring a more traditional approach to his White House
bid after a less structured strategy during his unsuccessful
U.S. Senate run last year.
Berman also served as delegate strategist for Hillary Clinton
during her 2016 White House run.
O'Rourke attracted an initial surge of publicity and excitement
when he entered the presidential race in March. He has struggled
in the most recent opinion polls to break out of a second tier
of candidates trailing far behind front-runners Joe Biden, the
former vice president, and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of
Vermont.
A CNN poll last week, however, showed O'Rourke to be the leading
Democratic candidate to beat Republican President Donald Trump
in a head-to-head matchup.
(Reporting by Tim Reid; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Jonathan
Oatis)
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