Democratic leaders at odds over party strategy

RAW STORY
Published: Monday July 3, 2006

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean are arguing about the best way to allocate party resources for the party's electoral efforts in the mid-term elections, today's issue of ROLL CALL reports.

Excerpts from the registration-restricted article follow...

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Emanuel, who reportedly stormed out of a May meeting with Dean, penned a letter, dated June 22, to the party chairman demanding $200,000 per targeted district from the DNC to defray the cost of the DCCC’s proposed field operation, several individuals who have read the letter said.

Attached to the letter was a sample field plan for a district, itemizing various projected expenses, down to details such as $2,500 for T-shirts. The expense plan was dated June 26, although it was unclear when Dean actually received the missive.

In making his monetary request, Emanuel cited the example of 1994, when, he said, the Republican National Committee earmarked $20 million for then-Speaker Newt Gingrich’s successful drive for a House takeover. By contrast, Emanuel suggested that Dean had offered a woefully inadequate $20,000 per district.

But while his allies argue that Emanuel, through his record-setting fundraising for the DCCC, deserves wide latitude in shaping ’06 strategy, Dean loyalists took the letter as hostile in nature, coming as it did after months of coy suggestions by Emanuel that Dean and the DNC were shirking their financial obligations to the DCCC’s election year effort.