10 Things You Didn't Know About Robert Gibbs

1. Robert Gibbs was born March 29, 1971, in Auburn, Ala.

2. His parents, Robert and Nancy, worked for Auburn University's library system. Robert retired as associate dean for libraries in 1992. Nancy is now head of acquisitions for the Duke University libraries.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

3. Gibbs got his first exposure to politics through his mother, who was active in the League of Women Voters.

4. While attending North Carolina State University, Gibbs majored in political science and played goalkeeper for the Wolfpack soccer team.

5. While at N.C. State, Gibbs interned with Rep. Glen Browder, an Alabama Democrat, and later joined Browder's staff. He also volunteered on Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign.

6. Gibbs has worked on a number of Democratic campaigns and congressional staffs, including the presidential campaign of John Kerry. He quit when Kerry fired a friend.

7. Referring to his many jobs, Gibbs's mother told an interviewer that he's called the "carnival worker, because he moves from candidate to candidate and from city to city."

8. Gibbs has found a home with Obama, having been with him since Obama's 2004 Senate campaign. They have developed such a close relationship that the Obamas baby-sat Gibbs's son in August 2008.

9. When Gibbs's son, Ethan Lane, was born in 2003, one of Gibbs's former bosses, North Carolina Rep. Bob Etheridge, placed an announcement in the Congressional Record.

10 .Gibbs and his wife, Mary Catherine, a lawyer, live in Alexandria, Va.

Sources:

• New York Times
• Associated Press
• Washington Post
• News & Observer
• McClatchy Newspapers
• Congressional Record