The Looming Takeover — Obama Campaign takes over the DNC

[NYCGirl]

Personally, I find the idea of Obama and Dean working together on the campaign THRILLING! What a magnificent combo!


http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0508/The_looming_takeover.html

The AP is reporting that negotiations to give the Obama campaign the reins of the DNC are underway:

Barack Obama is quietly planning to take over the Democratic National Committee and assemble a multistate team for the general election, the latest sign that he is putting rival Hillary Rodham Clinton and the nomination fight behind him.

Top Obama organizer Paul Tewes is in discussions to run the party, several Democratic officials said Tuesday.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said no final decisions have been made on general election plans and that such decisions would be premature with Obama yet to clinch the nomination.


DNC executive director Tom McMahon and DNC political director Dave Boundy traveled to Chicago last week to meet with Tewes and other campaign officials to discuss merging efforts. The party officials have held similar meetings with Clinton campaign officials and last week got an agreement with both campaigns to start raising money that will benefit the eventual nominee.



It’s normally a matter of course during the general election to expand the size of the party apparatus and hand over control to the nominee. “Effectively the DNC becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of the nominee’s, even before the convention,” Democratic consultant Chris Lehane told me last week.