Nicolle Wallace

Whether she was working in the White House as a wrangler of journalists or her own home as mom and novelist, Nicolle Wallace was always knee-deep in the workings of the political world. Her long time efforts for the Republican Party began early, perhaps as young as in high school or college. In 1997 she was involved with the Republican Caucus for the California Assembly after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Illinois. After a brief stint as a television reporter, a role she would return to later in life, she worked on Dan Lungren's campaign for California governor in 1998. That work brought her into the Bush circle as it led to her becoming Press Secretary to Florida Governor Jeb Bush. As Communications Director for the Florida State Technology Office in 2000 she was responsible for the Florida recount in the presidential elections that same year. George W. Bush's White House team invited her to come to the White House and from 2000 until 2004 she was the Director of Media Affairs. Her success as a liaison between journalists and the Bush White House paid off when she was invited to be Bush's Communications Director for the 2004 Bush-Cheney Campaign for re-election. Upon their return to the White House Wallace was promoted to White House Communications Director, where she remained until the 2008 McCain-Palin Presidential Campaign. Taken on as Special Advisor for the campaign, many considered her Sarah Palin's "handler" and personal charge. Whether this was true or not, Wallace was a frequent guest defending Palin on various political television shows during the campaign. When rumors began to circulate about doubts that Palin should be allowed to take office in the event of a McCain/Palin win, many fingers were pointed at Wallace. During an interview with CNN she said, "If people want to throw me under the bus, my personal belief is that the most honorable thing to do is to lie there." After the campaign Wallace retreated from the political limelight and took time away to concentrate on her family and writing a novel. Her first book, "Eighteen Acres," whose title refers to the size of the land the White House sits on in Washington D.C., was a success and led to a follow-up, "It's Classified." Both books revolve around a fictional woman president and gave readers an insider view of both the White House and political life. Wallace continued to stay involved with politics through guest appearances on various television shows including "Good Morning America" (ABC, 1975 -) as well as a stint on "Fox News Sunday" (1996 -) as a News Political Contributor from 2010-2012. She appeared on episodes of "Today" (NBC 1952 -) and "Entertainment Tonight" (Syndicated 1981 -) over the years before she was invited to be one of the new co-hosts for ABC's popular news talk show "The View" (1997 -) in 2014.