Obama Asks Former Campaign Manager David Plouffe to Help with Midterm Elections

President Obama is bringing back some of the team that helped him win the 2008 election -- including campaign manager David Plouffe -- to try and head off the kind of setbacks in this year's midterm election that the Democrats suffered this week in the Massachusetts senate race and last year's gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia.

Plouffe will work out of the Democratic National Committee where he will monitor and strategize the races this year for House, Senate and governors' seats, according to the New York Times.

Thirty-seven states have governors' races this year with Democrats defending 19 seats and Republicans 18 seats. There are 36 states with elections for Senate (including New York's special election) with Republicans and Democrats each defending 18. All 435 House seats are up for election.

The Times said that Obama spoke with Plouffe before the polls closed in Massachusetts on Tuesday to ask him to take on the midterm elections role, although when White House spokesman Robert Gibbs was asked the next day whether Plouffe was returning, he said "I don't have anything specific on that, except I know that he (Obama) continues to talk to David regularly."

On Fox News Sunday today, Gibbs said Plouffe "will help supplement an already good political staff led by (political director) Patrick Gaspard."

Senior White House adviser David Axelrod said on CNN's State of the Union that the White House was not contemplating an internal shake-up in the wake of the Massachusetts election and in the face of Obama's sagging poll numbers.

"That is part of the Washington game," Axelrod said. "Washington loves to throw out a body. There is nothing that gets Washington more excited than the prospect of somebody losing their job."

Referring to Plouffe, he said, "David is value added, we love him and he has been off writing a book for a year. We are happy to have his talents back with us on a more regular basis."

Another senior White House adviser, Valerie Jarrett, used almost identifical words on NBC's Meet the Press to underline Obama's confidence in his political team and the added value of Plouffe.