During general elections, the Democratic National Committee becomes the candidate's national committee, and since the Obama campaign is headquartered near Wacker and Michigan in Chicago, the DNC will pick up and move there.
The Politico's Ben Smith portrays it as a "a major shakeup" and "a departure from tradition," but it's more of a natural evolution. The DNC merged many of its operations with the Kerry campaign in 2004, but no one had to move -- both were located in Washington, D.C. And there's universal agreement, both among Kerry campaign veterans and DNC officials, that there still remained too many layers.
What IS different this cycle is that DNC staffers are being the opportunity to work with the Obama campaign more closely; they won't lose their jobs. Put another way, instead of muscling in and taking over DNC jobs, the Obama campaign is generously giving the DNC staffers a chance to do their jobs from Chicago.
When Paul Tewes, the Obama campaign's election manager now at the DNC, briefed members of the Association of State Democratic Party chairs on the conslidation, they responded positively, according to someone on the call.
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Meanwhile, McCain has integrated his campaign to get around election donation limits. Interesting move for a guy who supposedly wanted to stop the influence of big money on politicians.
Posted by LFC | June 12, 2008 1:32 PM