Education and Early Career
Taylor graduated from Wahlert High School, a private, co-educational, Roman Catholic school in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1992. She then attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. While in college, she was the National Co-Chairman of the College Republicans. She also took a year off, in 1995-1996, to work on Senator Phil Gramm's presidential campaign in Iowa.
After graduating from Drake in 1997 with a B.S. in Finance, Taylor worked for two years at the Tarrance Group, a northern Virginia polling firm headed by Ed Goeas.
In from April 1999, Taylor began working for the presidential campaign of George Bush. Her initial position, through January 2000, was coalitions director for Bush's Iowa caucus campaign. She then did field work in the South Carolina, Virginia, Washington, and Illinois primaries, and finally served as executive director of the Michigan campaign. After Bush was elected, Taylor worked for the White House as an associate political director (Midwest) doing political and public affairs outreach.
In July 2003, Taylor became the Deputy to Matthew Dowd, the Chief Strategist for the Bush-Cheney 2004 re-election campaign. There she helped refine the campaign's microtargeting, using sophisticated analysis of consumer data to target potential voters even when they resided in Democratic-leaning voting districts.
After the November 2004 election, Taylor returned to work in the White House. Beginning in February 2005, she was the Director of the White House Office of Political Affairs and Deputy Assistant to President George W. Bush . A Republican campaign strategist, field operator, and pollster, she was one of George W. Bush's top political aides, reporting directly to Karl Rove. She resigned in May 2007.
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