Republican media operative Ed Patru has started his own firm. Amplifico — Latin for “amplified— — kicked off this week with Patru and fellow partner Marc Ross.

[IMGCAP(1)]Amplifico’s aim is to provide corporations and business coalitions with a fully staffed presidential-campaign-style war room on a contractual basis, according to Patru. The former House Republican aide and his partner will be helped by a handful of campaign veterans who will be announced at a future date.

“The primary market for our services is corporations and business coalitions that have a particular public policy or regulatory challenge that they need to impact — for those clients, we provide a scalable, turnkey campaign operation,— Patru said.

Patru most recently served as vice president for communications at Freedom’s Watch in the 2008 cycle and worked at the National Republican Congressional Committee for five years, topping out as the deputy communications director.

With a track record in government relations, Ross has worked with the American Chemistry Council, National Mining Association and American International Automobile Dealers Association. Ross has also worked on several campaigns in California, Nevada, Ohio and the United Kingdom.

They Call Me Mellman Yellow. Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher (D), who is running for the open Senate seat in the Buckeye State, has tapped Mark Mellman of the Mellman Group to do

polling for his race, according to the campaign. AKPD will do media for Fisher, who seeks to succeed retiring Sen. George Voinovich (R).

Fisher also picked up Geri Prado as his campaign manager. Prado is a veteran of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D) campaign, as well as served as deputy political director at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in the 2006 cycle.

Fisher’s former chief of staff, Lauren Goode, has been named his political director, while Alan Melamed and Jan Roller will serve as senior advisers to the campaign.

Catalyst a Wave. Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou (R) has tapped the Catalyst Group to help with his fundraising for his bid for Hawaii’s 1st district, an open-seat race since Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D) announced last month he will run for governor in 2010.

Nathan Wurtzel and Joe Rachinsky of the Catalyst Group consult several Republican House Members, including Reps. Dave Reichert (Wash.), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), Mike Rogers (Mich.) and Glenn Thompson (Pa.).

Snap Into a Simmons, Jim. Former Rep. Rob Simmons (R-Conn.) has picked a manager to guide his Senate challenge to Sen. Chris Dodd (D) in 2010. Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) New England manager for his 2008 presidential bid, Jim Barnett, will be Simmons’ top aide to take on Dodd.

Barnett also worked on McCain’s victorious New Hampshire primary campaign last year, following four years as chairman of the Vermont Republican Party.

Department of Ed. The Democratic National Committee has plucked Ed Espinoza to be its southwestern states political director — the first of what is expected to be several regional political hiring announcements under its new chairman, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine.

Espinoza — a superdelegate for President Barack Obama in 2008 — will cover Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas for the DNC. It’s not new territory for the Golden State native, who ran the Nevada campaigns for America Votes in 2008 and for New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s (D) caucus operation.

In other DNC news, Brandi Hoffine has been named deputy press secretary at the committee. One of a handful of holdovers from the last regime, Hoffine was a research associate for Rapid Response at the DNC since October 2007.

Saul in a Day’s Work. Since leaving his post as chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, Saul Anuzis has joined up with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele to serve on his transition team on the technology subcommittee.

Anuzis also ran for Steele’s top job in January of this year but dropped out of the race after several rounds of voting. At the time, he declined to endorse any candidate — including Steele.

Anuzis will also be the national chairman for former Speaker Newt Gingrich’s (R-Ga.) Save American Jobs Project, a new media grass-roots effort opposing the Employee Free Choice Act.

Anuzis is also working as a consultant under his firm Coast to Coast Strategies and landed his first client. Anuzis will advise the RAP Index, a grass-roots organizing software tool, on some of its right-of-center political programs.

Veep Peeps. Greenberg Quinlan Rosner has promoted three of its employees to vice president.

David Walker, who polls for Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Del. Brian Moran’s (D) Virginia gubernatorial bid, was promoted to vice president.

Ana Iparraguirre, who will oversee the company’s new Latin American office in Buenos Aires, Argentina, following up on her time leading the firm’s work for Democracy Corps, was also promoted to VP.

And a veteran of the pollster’s international team, Joe Moreira, will work with clients in Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia, also as vice president.

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