Bruno Gianelli
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bruno Gianelli is a fictional character from the television series The West Wing played by Ron Silver, who was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2002 for his performance.
Gianelli is considered to be a brilliant political strategist, and managed President Jed Bartlet's re-election campaign in the third and fourth season for the 2002 Presidential election. He resurfaced in the show's sixth season as a campaign advisor to Republican Senator Arnold Vinick in his Presidential campaign for the 2006 election. During the Democratic primaries in the 2006 election, he was mentioned as having managed Governor Eric Baker's campaign for the Democratic nomination before Baker dropped out; considering the other Democratic candidates too divisive, Gianelli then switched parties in order to run a 50-state campaign for Senator Vinick, an old friend of Baker's.
This party switch has an odd and possibly intentional parallel to Silver's own political history, as Silver, a lifelong Democrat, endorsed the candidacy of Republican President George W. Bush in 2004.
His campaign style has given him many similarities to Dick Morris, a former campaign consultant to former President Bill Clinton who also worked for candidates of both parties, and Karl Rove, the Deputy White House Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush.
After the 2006 Presidential election was over, Gianelli stated he hoped to retire to his home on the Hudson River in upstate New York.
