Obama plans general election team

WASHINGTON — 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.

Tewes is one of the leading architects of Obama's success in the marathon Democratic primary race. He engineered Obama's critical victory in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, which gave Obama the upper hand and Clinton was never able to fully overcome.

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.

The Obama campaign also is in discussions with staffers who will be dispatched to various swing states, but holding off on making announcements until Obama has won the nomination. Officials who spoke to The Associated Press about the discussions insisted on anonymity because the campaign wanted to keep the deliberations quiet.

Obama needs 2,026 delegates to clinch the nomination, and he moved within 100 of that goal after contests in Kentucky and Oregon Tuesday. Clinton was more than 250 delegates back.

The staffing decisions are a natural progression for Obama, who still is engaged in a primary campaign while Republican candidate John McCain has been free to prepare his general election team for months. Obama will have to hit the ground running to make up for lost time when, as expected, he dispatches Clinton.

Democratic and Republican nominees traditionally install loyalists at their party committees even though it is technically headed by its chairman _ in this case Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor and a presidential candidate four years ago.

McCain has put his own team at the Republican National Committee to operate a Victory Fund Committee that is corralling top GOP donors and plotting strategy for the general election. McCain took the steps shortly after locking up the nomination after primary wins on March 4.

But Obama can't afford to move too quickly toward the general election, or he will risk alienating Clinton supporters who are already emotional about the likelihood of their chosen candidate's closely fought defeat.

There have been other steps toward the Democratic nomination. Obama has been campaigning in general election battleground states. Fundraisers for the two campaigns have held quiet discussions on working together in the fall campaign. And Obama's campaign reached out to former Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle about joining forces for the general election, although several other top Clinton staffers said they have not been contacted.

___

On the Net:

http://www.barackobama.com

Comments

[Grizzlies]

For months Senator Clinton supporters have listened to vile, disingenuous comments about their candidate from Obama surrogates and Obama zombies. NOT ONLY DO YOU DISMISS OUR CANDIDATE, YOU DISMISS ENTIRE STATES THAT VOTE FOR HER!! That is not the way to unify this party. WE may share some common views, but we can also THINK FOR OURSELVES!! DAY BY DAY inflammatory comments are hurled at Clinton by Obama supporters in the misguided belief that your insults will cause us to close ranks before this contest is over. MICHIGAN,FLORIDA,MONTANA,SOUTH DAKOTA ,,AND YES ,EVEN PUERTO RICO DO COUNT.

[Yohomegirl]

I will vote for the candidate that is intelligent enough to see that THE candidate has been(

[Yohomegirl]

(cont) chosen. Note past tesne in the use of the word 'has'.

[Liberoservative]

My letter to the DNC
Done as well:
My comment:
Please for the love of God stop this Primary. I was watching Clinton's speech in Boca Raton today and was almost physically ill listening to her bash Obama. I also watched Obama's speech in Tampa, what little part I could.. and even when he had a chance to mention her in a negative light, i.e. the gas tax, he didn't go there. He praised her profusely and he kept on point against McCain. I have no idea why you are allowing her to continue to denigrate the best presidential candidate we have had in my lifetime of 52 years.. and, yes, I think that he's even better than JFK (blasphemy)... Please allow this man to get on to the GE and let people know him for who he is. Instead, you are letting a rogue Democrat run around like a nut and cut him down over and over...
Thank you DNC....
PS. Once Obama is officially named the Nominee, you will get my campaign donations. Until then, they are going to his campaign. posted 05/21/2008 at 15:13:44

[hillarysupporter]

Please don't call his patronizing behavior "praise". After a year of Obama, his campaign and
his mean-spirited supporters' smear campaigns and rumors, he's got to be kidding if he thinks
anyone actually believes what he's saying.

[EvoMan]

What did you think about her Bosnia lies. Is even mentioning them a smear?

What do you think about her agreeing to the rules regarding Michigan and Florida...until she started to lose? Is pointing this out a smear?

Mean spirited? How about truth.

[DMW1]

And you would complain just as much, if not more, if he had been negative. It's like listening to Hillary - "Heads I win, tails you lose!"

[ApolloniaCreed]

What do you think about this popular vote farce she is spewing; comparing her own party to Zimbabwe/Mugabe?! Are you serious? ...nevermind, you can't be...

[Chapmanp2]

Excellent strategy...
I like it.

[Liberoservative]

Wow.. McCain's adivisor resigns because he doesn't want to work against Obama! A Repub with a conscience...
http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/21/mccain-adviser-resigns-doesn%e2%80%99t-want-to-work-against-obama/#comments

[Grannysue]

Too bad that Obama cannot can some of his class and give it too Hillary, because she has none!

[Dalpine]

It's sad to see rational women reduced to bitter sore losers who are now being manipulated into believing that cheating and damaging the party is good.
Democrats should protest against Hillary trying to weaken Democrats for the GE.

[LeftLeanWing]

can't do that now; because it would alienate Hillary supporters; but if her actions can be pointed to a major reason why Obama loses the GE; Then they should give her a whoop-ass beat down (figuratively speaking) by promoting and grooming other women within the Party to Top Senate positions and committees.

[hillarysupporter]

If Obama loses, its absolutely his fault and no one else's. He's had the entire media,
Kennedy, Oprah, etc., and more money than any campaign in history!
In fact, the question is, even with all of the above, why is he having so much trouble closing? He knows he can't win the election in November without Clinton's voters, either.

[JJeff88]

Work toward merging groups nationally is a good sign. But - if implemented effectively - where this sort of effort will be most helpful will be at the state and local level.

None other than Mike Dukakis pointed out that one thing that can really help Sen. Obama among rural, blue collar and older voters are folks already established in their neighborhoods and local communities who can knock on doors, pick up the phone and vouch for Sen. Obama's commitment to helping them.

For this to happen, the campaign organization will have to meet with local Democrats to work out common strategy. This does not always go swimmingly. (the candidate's campaign people often feel they know what won for their candidate to get him nominated. The state and local organization Democrats feel they they know best what works for their constituencies and where the bodies are buried).

It will be a challenge and test of a really good campaign organization that has proved to be extremely savvy at the national level to make things operate effectively and harmoniously on the ground for the general election.

[GravitonX]

Look. If Hillary doesn't strongly endorse Obama, we'll just get former-Clinton operatives who support Obama to do it.

Let's do what we do best.....grassroots, baby!

[useyourbrain]

who do you think is running his campaign now?

[SpoxLogic]

Luckily, Obama's camp knows how to work with the locals. This is how he's been running his campaign. His local people have everything set up and then when he comes in, they mesh and hit the ground running.

There may be a fe whiccups, but I think it will hum along quite nicely!

[Liberoservative]

You have no idea how large his grass roots organizers are..... just do one look at what South Carolina is doing... and, since I am a registered Missouri voter because I am AD in SC... I am stirring up hope in my home state with my friends..... This is going to happen.... I don't think that the racist Dems or Repubs are large enough to stop us.... WE CAN DOTHIS...... with all of your participation... yah.. it takes some time out of your lives... but don't you get the little voice in your head..."This is the right thing to do"....

[preatorius]

It is not a secret anymore, thanks!

[dapperd72]

Unfortunately, the results in Kentucky & West Virginia reflect what George Carlin described as the "intelligence level of the American gene pool" on his "What Am I Doing In New Jersey?" album. He emphasized that people who like to reenact Civil War battles should use live ammunition because they "just might raise the intelligence level of the American gene pool!" When I see interviews with white voters who say they won't vote for Obama because they believe he's a Muslim or that he's black, it reminds me of all that's wrong with this country. The same people who refuse to vote for a non-white or non-Christian for President (though Obama is Christian anyhow) are those who oppose flag-burning, insist one must wear a flag-lapel pin to be patriotic, support war, hunting, the death penalty, gun "rights" and agribusiness, and call abortion "murder" if a woman wants to control her reproductive cycle. These are the same ignorant neo-KKK hypocrites who call Michelle Obama "unpatriotic" because there were times in her life when she wasn't necessarily proud of her country. Anyone in this nation who has always been proud of our nation's history either has a few screws loose or more likely has a moral deficit (to be very diplomatic). I'm sure the millions of Native Americans whose ancestors were murdered by military troops, along with other non-whites and nonhuman animals who are/were enslaved as SOP in our culture, would celebrate with equal jingoistic fervor.

[CookieWrites]

Obama is arrogant to take this action since he is not the nominee at this time. All this proves is that the idiot Howard Dean has been biased all along not to mention how he blew it in cutting Florida and Michigan out of the race.
The race is not over until it is over.

[preatorius]

I have news for you. It is over.

[GravitonX]

Hillary can argue and nag us til she's blue in the face.

It's not going to change.

It's over.

[olivia]

There is an arrogant person in this campaign and it is not Obama.

[Pammy1151]

Cookie I am taking for granted that you are a woman. I also hope that you do not have any children. If you did you would have taught them what is fair and not to tell tales. I think why so many Obama supporters have problem with Hillary supporters is because most of you are just stubborn. Obama is going to be the nominee. It is time to get on board the winning team and stop playing the role of a VICTIM. It didn't work for Hillary during the campaign except with a certain group of woman that act the same way she does and I find it sad that her supporters are all falling into the same VICTIM place. I hope you think more of yourself and of others around you.

[butterworth]

Hillary Clinton has done her supporters a great disservice, giving them false belief that "the race is not over", continuing to ask them for money, and and trying to get them emotionally invested in a lost campaign. For me, it is further proof that she is divisive and dishonest. For a long time, she has been abetted by the media who pitched the false idea of a "close race" simply for ratings and money. It's extremely sad that voters were manipulated in this way.

[madhatter123]

Well said, dapper d.

[aaronburr]

"I'm sure the millions of Native Americans whose ancestors were murdered by military troops, along with other non-whites and nonhuman animals who are/were enslaved as SOP in our culture, would celebrate with equal jingoistic fervor."


Wow, even the "non-human animals" hate us! Thank God they can't vote. Your kind of elitist, sneering condescension where you assign bad intentions and ignorance to large blocks of Americans (who you have obviously never met) just because they dare to not vote according to your agenda - instead of blaming the fact that maybe, just maybe, for whatever reason, your candidate's message was not persuasive enough to win their vote - is the kind of arrogance that could ultimately end up costing Obama the election. He and his supporters - like you I presume - are going to need to persuade, not call those who don't agree with them names.

[Hare]

just maybe, for whatever reason,
your candidate's message was not persuasive enough to win their vote -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

What message is persuasive enough? Please elaborate

[santamonica39]

elistist? Because we think Americans have done some terrible things. Slavery, genocide against native americans, putting Japanese AMERICANS in concentration camps, illegal invasions of sovereign nations. The list goes on. I love my country, but anyone who is truly proud of ALL we've done is either an idiot or morally bankrupt.

[Tropiholic]

aaronburr and your arrogant selective sanctimony is very unbecoming. Some people just love to read their own posts or hear themselves talk. Most everyone else finds them obnoxious and offensive.

[biglover]

dapperd72 - i agree and I agree with Carlin. Despite what aaronburr has to say below.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck - it's a duck

[useyourbrain]

but it's a reality and railing against it won't change it....time, exposure and experience to other people and cultures will do that. you see that in the big cities. it's also a generational thing that is changing over time.

it IS a major problem for Obama in the general election and he probably will lose because in spite of the pundits and pollsters and talking heads of the MSM who say Obama has transcended race, he may have transcended it, a lot of America has not.

[Arbos]

African-Americans have been voting for the White candidate ever since 1865. They finally have an alternative that they have decided in mass to come out and support due to his race. BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE.....if Barack Obama was not in the race African-American's would still support any candidate regardless of color as they have for the past 150 years.

On the other hand Whites across this country (do you hear me West Virginia) have decided that THEY WILL NOT vote for a black candidate (look at the polls) simply because he is black. In fact I would go as far as to say if there were nothing but black candidates in this election they would write in the name of a white candidate or not vote at all.

There is a HUGE difference.

[metrext]

Agreed. But as a factual correction...

African Americans did not officially earn the right to vote until 1870. And even then, they had to face Jim Crow laws, poll taxes (that's right pay to vote) and literacy tests that prevented them from actually being able to cast a ballot.

In 1865 freedmen were equal enough to be free. But they were not equal enough to vote.

[harry3864]

No worries...we will prevail regardless of the racist vote. These parts of the country are already irrelevant in todays changing world. They have voted Republican "values" for years even though it hurts their economic future....not bright people.

Funny thing they don't have a problem rooting for a black football player every Saturday. Wonder what it would be like if all the black athletes left West Virginia? Hypocrites...and racists!

Remember the racist Kentucky basketball coach Adolph Rupp...not much has changed.

Racism will always be here however now the racists are being forced out of the closet and will ultimately be isolated by intelligent people.

[GravitonX]

I think we're making too big a deal out of WV and KY. Come' on. We knew how they were going to vote. I was actually hoping to be surprised, too. People in these states are so intractably racist that they would rather die than get a blood transfusion from a Black person. Hell, if Jesus came back as a Black man, you can bet these people would be first in line to crucify Him. No surprises, but plenty of disappointment.

[santamonica39]

You are soo right - and in fact, African Americans make up the voting block that has delivered the white house to democrats. A democrat can't win without substantial support from African Americans - you can look at all the past presidential elections and see this, they usually break something like 75%-25% for the democrat and it's that huge margin that tips victory to the Dem. I think it's a crime that the media is focusing on Obama's "problem" with racist whites, but not pointing out that Hillary has a problem with blacks now that she has completely alienated them with her race baiting and divisive campaign strategy. If she were to get the nomination, she would not have their overwhelming support (may still get a majority because many would not vote for McCain, but not by the margins she would need and many may just not vote). She would lose.

And who cares about KY and WV? Do we really expect to win them?

[janedoe37]

When you get down to it people will either vote with their gut or on the issues (or not at all). If they are voting with their gut who will they pick: war hero or wife of ex-President they liked? how about war hero or junior black senator? It could be war hero or anyone else and war hero will still get the gut vote. For those people who do vote on the issues (read: pocketbook) they'll either stay home (for the really racist) or grit their teeth (for the lightly to moderately racist and the rabid/enthusiastic Hillary supporters) and pull the Democrat lever.

Ultimately this is true for everyone, not just the KY/WV/PA voters.

Also, I am NOT calling the Hillary supporters racist, I'm just saying they will grit their teeth when they vote Obama in November.

[reelcobra]

This is ours to lose guys!!!

_________________________________

Character is a "distraction" - Not an Issue

And don't dare mention our guy's:

Wife
Mentor
Middle Name
Friends
positions
Race
Inexperience

BHO '08!!

[madkey]

GO OBAMA GO. LETS GO OBAMA 08

[panickedkernel]

Say it proud, Barack Hussein Obama, only in America can we PROUDLY elect a man with a "scary" middle name. I love my country :)

Obama 08!

[olivia]

And you cannot say ANYTHING AT ALL about Hillary because she is a woman, and anything you said would be, you know, sexist.

[reelcobra]

Guys and gals -

This is your grievence fest, not mine.

I'm just enjoying myself while you battle race v. gender to the finish.

Normal Americans will vote on character and the issues, not this other garbage "progressives" obsess over.

Long live the Democrat party!! The most racially divided, sexist group ever assembled.

BHO '08!!

[rinpochet]

You sound like a sore loser. Sad.

[SFkid]

Barack H. Obama

Wife: Michelle Obama
Mentor: Christian Church
Middle Name: Hussein
Friends: America
positions: Senator
Race: Afro/Anglo American
Inexperience: Good for Washington

These are all POSITIVE TRAITS TO ME! :)

Too bad your too blind to see that...We're #1, Your #2

[gladys46]

#1 brain dead, unread, uneducated ... that has to equal walking zombie!

[hillarysupporter]

how childish.

[santamonica39]

haha... his wife? Are you kidding? She's awesome! Have you gotten a look at the plasticine Cindy McCain lately - who steals others recipes and passes them off as her own and who won't release her tax returns? Mentor? uh... can you say Hagee? Obama's friends - Kennedy, Daschle, Gore, Dean, Chuck Hagel, Colin Powel... not to mention millions of Americans signed on to his campaign.... Race - Anglo/African American! A total plus to most Americans as he has the ability to relate to more people in this country than the old fart McBush (and for the record we are perfectly comfortable losing the Appalachia KKK vote). Inexperience? Oh contrare - he has experience and history has shown that great presidents need not have tons of washington experience. How much of that did General Washington have? Abraham Lincoln? John Kennedy? Oh, and Nixon was very "experienced", so is Dick Cheney. How'd that work out...? Oh yeah, not so good.

[NCMan]

Since it is OK for black voters to vote for Obama based on race because this is the first opportunity they have had for a viable candidate. Then it must be OK for women to vote for Hillary based on gender because this is the first viable candidate they have had. Does this mean it is only the white men who vote for Clinton that are poor, uneducated, racists?

Sincr Clinton didn't win the black vote in any state, that must mean she won the white vote in every state she won. Does that mean that all the Clinton voters in NY, CA, MA, OK, AZ, NJ, OH, PA, RI, NH, NM, NV, IN, TN, AR, WV, KY are all racists? I left out TX and NV, because I guess it's the latinos there that are racists, right?

[Arbos]

Your logic is so flawed one can only assume you fall into the white and uneducated (middle school?) bracket.

[devadasi]

NCMAN....whatever you say.



OBAMA 08

[metrext]

Please learn what racism means. I hear you can google definitions or even search wikipedia. Hint: It has something to do with discrimination. So none of the examples in your first paragraph are examples of racism (or sexism for that matter) because they involve supporting someone.

Choosing not to vote for Clinton because she is a woman

[metrext]

is sexist.

Choosing not to vote for Obama because he is African American is racist.

[westbrooks01]

Well, NCMan:

It is not OK for black voters to vote for Obama based on race. I, as a black voter, voted for Obama, because I believe in him and his platform for change. I believe that his community experience and intelligence will make him an excellent candidate. Admittedly, I am giddy that he has a mixed-race background, because he can more understand the plight of non-white citizens of the U.S.

Have all of our presidents past, been the president of the white people only? Is the Katrina problem evidence of that?

It is not OK for women to vote for Hillary based on gender. I don't think that Hillary is just a woman. She is a woman that has voted for the war. And voted for a possible Iran invasion. And she has substantial contacts with foreign interests, that I believe she will have to answer to in the White House.

So, to answer your question. If blacks are only voting for Obama, white women are voting for Clinton, then white men will vote for McCain. And history has shown that poor, uneducated whites vote based on race, because a lack of education leaves a void that is able to be filled with racism and misunderstanding, and this is a problem, because McCain could care less what any poor, white person thinks, as long as they vote for him and his agenda of helping the rich.

[Testtubebaby]

People like you are so full of it and should be hit with it and sued for stinkin, Puhleese.

[arabrab]

The states that Obama lost big and the same states that put Bush in the White House. I rest my case. God helps us all if they are allowed to pick another President.

[santamonica39]

actually obama "lost big" in a primary. That has absolutely no relevance to the general election. Are you saying that the red states where Obama "won big" (and there are MANY of those) are all states where he will win big in November? You really reveal your ignorance when you post things that show you know nothing about our electoral process. PRIMARIES AND GENERAL ELECTIONS are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THINGS, MADE UP OF COMPLETELY DIFFERENT VOTERS. He LOST BIG to a democrat, and history shows that most of those democrats who voted for the other candidate will in the end support the democrat in the general. So the general election hinges more on infrequent voters (not primary voters) and indpendents, and to what extent the candidate can peel off voters from the other party. In at least the last two of these areas Obama has an advantage over Clinton and over McCain.

[BannedFromCommenting]

OBAMA IS MAINLY WINNING THE REPUBLICAN STATES!
OBAMA ONLY HAS WON 6 DEMOCRATIC NON-CAUCAUS STATES!
FOR EACH DEM STATE HE DIDNT WIN, HE IS LESS LIKELY TO WIN AGAINST MCCAIN!
FOR EACH REP STATE HE WON AGAINST CLINTON HE IS LESS LIKELY TO WIN AGAINST MCCAIN!
DO THE POLITICAL LOGIC..........

[GravitonX]

When it's Hillary winning a Red State, it's called a Swing State. When it's Obama, it's a Republican State.

By the way, Bill Clinton lost Iowa and the early states in 1992 but won Iowa in the Fall. The logic that a Democrat has to win a "Democratic" State within a Democratic contest in order to win in the Fall is flawed.

[olivia]

And in some of those Republican states the turnout in the Dem primary or caucus he won was so huge there is talking of those red states going blue in November.

Kansas is one. Check out the numbers.

[GeoLee]

NOT according to all the polls so far in Kansas that I am seeing in our papers. A "huge" caucus turnout was 27,000 votes out of nearly a million possible. The biggest wins were at the caucuses located in Lawrence (KU), Manhattan (K-State) and Wichita (Newman, Friends and Wichita State) sites and Topeka which tends to be a slightly more liberal area. Our senator and most house races are pretty much as inthe last election with Senator Roberts, Bush's intelligence commiittee chairman who gave him the patriot act, is 18 points ahead of a pretty well known democratic contender and his financial warchest is 12 times bigger. If you have different numbers, please send the site...I would like some encouragement since we have not had a democratic candidate take this state since forever. (1964, actually)... but I did not get my first vote until 1968 since back then one could not vote until they turned 21.

[SpoxLogic]

DUH! Your argument makes no sense. Hillary is winning the states she is because they are strongly democratic aor because of name recognition. Obama's electoral map will look like 2000 and 2004, PLUS throw in a few more. The strongly Democratic states will go to Obama in November, and maybe a few of the current"Red" states. All in all, a great recipe for success.

Hillary can claim all she wants that she is winning the big states (read Democratic), but she can't say that she can carry states like Oregon, Colorado, etc. So her electorial map remains like it was in 2000 and 2004. That's a recipe for getting the election stolen, as it ws in 2000 (FL) and 2004(Ohio).

With Clinton, the GOP has a chance to steal a state that will make the difference. With Obama, they'd have to try and steal several, which they know is harder to hide and harder to do.

[Sneakerface]

I had to read your post several times to try and make sense of it. Reading the first line or two, I assumed you were arguing in favor of Obama, because "mainly winning the Republican states" is clearly an argument that he is more electable in the General Election.

[santamonica39]

actually your logic is completely false. Winning or losing a primary has absolutely no bearing on the general election. If you don't understand why, you are too stupid to post here. And caucus states are just as legitimate if not more than primary states. This attack on caucuses is a Clinton talking point because she hasn't been able to win them. Why? Because caucuses award passion among your supporters and organization among your campaign. Two things that I think are quite valuable in a general election.