Doug Bailey was an American political consultant and founder of The Hotline, a bipartisan, daily online briefing on American politics.
From 1968 to 1987, Bailey was President of Bailey Deardourff & Associates one of the first national political consulting firms. He worked for Republican candidates including President Gerald Ford; Senators Edward Brooke, Kit Bond, John Danforth, Charles Percy, Richard Schweiker, John Chafee, Richard Lugar, Robert Stafford, and Howard Baker; Governors Thomas Kean, William Milliken, Jim Rhodes, Otis R. Bowen, James R. Thompson, Lamar Alexander, Kit Bond, Richard Snelling, William T. Cahill, Richard Thornburgh, Jim Rhodes, Robert Ray, Al Quie, and Pete DuPont.
After leaving day-to-day operations at The Hotline, which he began in 1987, Bailey became involved in numerous philanthropic activities. Most recently, he was one of the four co-founders of the political reform movement Unity08, a company that hoped to start a new centrist party for the 2008 presidential election. He appeared on The Colbert Report to promote his cause. He also founded Freedom’s Answer, a non-partisan voter turnout effort, with former Clinton Press Secretary Mike McCurry. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Fletcher School at Tufts University.
Bailey passed away on June 10, 2013, at the age of 79.
He spoke in a discussion on The Politics of Polarization alongside Gerald Rafshoon at The Common Good in 2007.
