Dean's 50 State Strategy

The Dem Gang Of Five Agrees...

DNC Chair Howard Dean has a new ally in his fight to convince donors to support his 50-state capacity building project.Last month Dean and DNC dir. Tom McMahon traveled to Harlem and sat down with Bill Clinton, often said to be privately disparaging of Dean. But as Dean walked Clinton through the project and showed Clinton evidence that the party had found new pockets of Dems in states like MS and SC, Clinton became an instant convert.He vowed to help Dean win the attention of donors. Clinton will do his first fundraiser for the DNC in April.

Clinton's support comes at precisely the right time for Dean. Party leaders and Congressional campaign strategists are nervously pressuring Dean to stop spending money to staff organizers in states and instead commit to transfer the bulk of the DNC's kitty to the DSCC and the DCCC.

At a tense meeting in February, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid urged Dean to give to the Senate committee the same amount as the RNC was expected to transfer to the GOP's Senate committee. Reid argued that the DSCC's historically rare fundraising advantage could be wiped out with a single check from RNC Chair Ken Mehlman. If Republicans shuffled their cash, Reid said, the outcome of several critical Senate races might be jeopardized.

According to three sources familiar with the meeting, Dean said no. Of course, he said, the DNC will spend millions on the midterms. His argument (described by one source as "halting") was this: While the DSCC and DCCC's role is traditionally incumbent protection, Dean, on the other hand, was elected chair to tend to overall health of the party. And that includes his responsibility to hundreds of non-federal candidates as well. His investment in state parties, Dean promised Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, would pay off and the benefits would accrue to Democrats at all levels.

A follow up meeting last week between Dean, Reid, Pelosi, and Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Rahm Emanuel was more smooth. A source familiar with the meeting said that the five agreed that the DNC would devote substantial resources to the ground game in battleground states.