WASHINGTON, D.C. - Dana Singiser fondly recalls growing up in Vermont and escaping the summer heat in Mendon, Vt., by jumping in “mucky” ponds. Decades later, she has an office in the East Wing of the White House, serves as a special assistant to the president for legislative affairs and is the White House’s direct link to 18 senators, including Sen. Bernie Sanders.

But she still enjoys escaping to Vermont to jump in ponds that are “mucky as mucky can be.”

Singiser requested being assigned to Sanders, in large part because of their Vermont connection.

“I have enormous respect for Sen. Sanders and his work on behalf of Vermonters,” she said.  “He has a clear vision of what he wants to accomplish in the Senate, and has proven to be very effective.” 

Singiser, one of three sisters, recalls her Vermont roots well. She attended Barstow Memorial School in Chittenden, Vt., and returns to Vermont frequently, including every Christmas. “My parents still live there,” she said of Mendon. “And that’s our family home.”

Returning to Vermont, she said, is “awesome.”

“It’s like going home. My whole family’s there. We have so many traditions:  farmers’ market on Saturday. Church on Christmas Eve. Family dinners – just a nice break from Washington.”

The first time she spent away from Vermont on Christmas Eve was 2007 while working on then-Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in Iowa. Singiser, who has worked in every presidential campaign since 1992, recalled the details of the grueling 2008 primary and explained the details of her White House position during an interview last week on Capitol Hill.

Singiser is one of a half-dozen people who articulate the White House’s legislative priorities to the U.S. Senate. A similar-sized team is assigned to the U.S. House of Representatives.    

“The House is a different culture. They vote in packs,” she said. “In the Senate, every single senator can make a difference.”

“We work really closely with leadership to get good pieces of legislation passed,” she said.

Of the 18 senators she works with directly, nine caucus with the Democrats and nine caucus with the Republicans. Her only other New England senator is Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. Among the other senators she works with are Barbara A. Mikulski (D- Md.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla).

Singiser has spent most of the last two years working on matters under the jurisdiction of the Senate Committee on Health, Labor, Education and Pensions.  While health care reform was being crafted Singiser worked closely with Senator Sanders and recognized “his unwavering support for funding for Community Health Centers during the health reform debate.”

“He recognized how important these facilities are in Vermont, and largely due to his determination, the Affordable Care Act will dramatically expand these centers in Vermont and across the country,” Singiser said. “This piece of the act is, perhaps, the most important one in terms of actually expanding access to primary health care to millions more Americans.”

Senator Sanders said Singiser “has a very difficult job and she does it really well.”

“Her job is to facilitate communication both ways between senators and the White House and to make sure the Obama administration understands the needs of the different states and their senators,” Bernie said. “She is doing the job better than anyone I have previously worked with in that capacity. And the Obama people made a very good decision to bring her on board.”

Getting Her Start

After graduating from Brown University in 1992, Singiser jumped into presidential politics. She worked in Bill Clinton’s regional field office in Rutland, Vt. Those were the days before computers were widespread, she recalled, “It was all paper. I think there was just one computer in the office.”

After Clinton was elected president, Singiser moved to Washington, D.C. without a job lined up. She volunteered for the Presidential Transition Team and she subsequently landed a paying position.

In 1995, she attended Georgetown Law School, taking the fall of 1996 off to help with Clinton’s re-election campaign in Florida. She was assigned to Tallahassee, Fla. Although not a fan of Florida, she picked up more campaign and political experience. She would return to Florida during Vice President Al Gore’s run for president in 2000.

After finishing her law degree, she worked for as a lobbyist for a D.C.-based law firm,  but politics beckoned. She signed on with Gov. Howard Dean’s campaign for president, serving as deputy political director. She worked from Burlington, Vt., and was slated to open a Washington, D.C. office had the campaign continued.

“It was the Vermont connection. And his populist politics appealed to me,” she said of Dean. “He was such a dark horse and wasn’t really part of the D.C. establishment.”

The 2008 Primary

In the summer of 2004, Singiser moved to the U.S. Senate where worked for then-Sen. Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee. As the head of advocacy, she dealt with national policy. “She was a great boss,” Singiser said of working with Senator Clinton.

Two and half years later, Singiser was tapped to help get Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign started. Singiser remembers the conversation with Senator Clinton: “Why don’t you go to Friends of Hillary and just get things started.”

Singiser’s position was ultimately formalized as being the director of women’s outreach.

“I think Hillary attracted more women in their 40s, 50s and 60s who never got involved in politics,” she said.  Singiser includes her own mother in that category. (Her father, who she described as a “libertarian,” regularly supports Republican. “I’m sure he voted for McCain,” she said.)

The 2008 primary was a “seven-day-a-week job for many, many months,” she said. Based in northern Virginia, she also spent much time in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Michigan.

“We had a series of 20 election days. You just had to psyche yourself up,” she said, recalling the “bruising” primary with then Sen. Barack Obama. “There is no word to capture it. It was just exhausting - and painful as we saw the campaign falter.”

After Senator Clinton stepped aside, Singiser was ultimately asked to join Obama campaign as senior advisor for the women’s vote. She was charged with ensuring Clinton supporters would make the transition to supporting the Democratic nominee. “It took a lot of work to bring them over,” she said of dedicated Clinton backers. “He needed to prove himself to these voters.”

President Obama has done so, she said, pointing to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which was signed into law, on Jan. 29, 2009 and helps ensure women are paid equally.

Despite the grueling campaign, both candidates, she said, had the utmost respect for each other. “Both are true public servants,” Singiser said. “They weren’t running for president to be president. They were running for president to make change for this country.”