POLITICO POWER PLAYER

The New York Times profiles Brian Ellner.

The HRC hired him to make sure the same-sex marriage bill passed in Albany.

THIS fall, Mr. Ellner helped raise money to target vulnerable candidates who had voted against the same-sex marriage bill in 2009. He quietly met with Republicans, seeking to change a few votes.

But Mr. Ellner also wanted to drum up popular momentum for the bill, to frame it as a moderate issue. So he called his friend from Dartmouth, Annie Sundberg, a filmmaker who co-directed “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work,” to make the videos, which rolled out on a steady basis: Whoopi Goldberg, Mayor Bloomberg, Anna Wintour, Russell Simmons.