The Trail

Friday, June 13, 2008

MIDWESTWARD HO!

DNC Moves It

Moving quickly to take control of the Democratic Party, Sen. Barack Obama will shift much of the infrastructure of the Democratic National Committee from its Capitol Hill headquarters to his campaign offices in downtown Chicago, DNC officials said yesterday.

The party's political functions and some other operations will move to Obama's offices in the Loop. The DNC's get-out-the-vote operation will be integrated with Obama's massive voter mobilization efforts, as will the Democrats' increasingly sophisticated voter identification program. Communications, opposition research and much of its Internet operation will likely remain in Washington.

"We are now one team effort working together to ensure that Barack Obama is the next president of the United States," said DNC communications director Karen Finney. "Our goal is to quickly consolidate these efforts into one operation and effectively drive one national strategy."

The move is not unprecedented. Some DNC operations were moved to Nashville in 2000, and a migration similar in scope to this year's took place in 1992, when Bill Clinton moved much of the party to Little Rock. Obama moved one of his top aides, Paul Tewes, to the DNC on Wednesday. Last Friday, Tewes, Obama and DNC Chairman Howard Dean held a conference call with state Democratic leaders to map out the shake-up.

"What's unusual is the speed," said Tom McMahon, DNC executive director. "That's what's catching people off guard."

-- Jonathan Weisman

BUH-BYE TO CAMPAIGNING

Paul Revolution Morphs

The revolution has just begun, according to Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), who said yesterday he is officially suspending his presidential campaign and is launching a nationwide effort to elect like-minded libertarian individuals to office.

"The presidential campaign was phase 1," said Jesse Benton, Paul's spokesman. He said Paul is forming a nonprofit that will tap into the activism and fundraising energy created by his bid for the Republican nomination.

The first challenge will be filling the 11,000-seat stadium that Paul has reserved for a speech during the Republican convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul in September.

-- Michael D. Shear

OBAMA RUMORS ADDRESSED

Dueling Posts

Sen. Barack Obama's campaign has launched a Web site to knock down false rumors about the candidate and his wife.

The site, FightTheSmears.com, lists the Internet-driven whoppers that have surfaced during Obama's campaign, including a supposedly sensational videotape alleged to show Michelle Obama using the term "whitey" from the pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

The site provides an e-mail form for supporters to "tell your friends the truth" about attacks that land in their inbox. "Rush Limbaugh and his fellow right-wing attack-dogs have been spreading baseless rumors about a non-existent video tape showing Michelle Obama using a racial epithet," reads the posting related to the rumor. "The truth is that no such tape exists, and this entire smear campaign is fabricated."

The site addresses Obama's religion (he's Christian, not Muslim) and the elementary school he attended in Indonesia (secular, as opposed to a "radical madrassa"). It provides video of Obama leading the Pledge of Allegiance on the Senate floor and a photo of Vice President Cheney swearing in Obama with the new senator's left hand on his family Bible (and not the Koran).

"The Obama campaign isn't going to let dishonest smears spread across the Internet unanswered," Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement.

-- Shailagh Murray

SURPRISE IN ITALY

A Selfish Endorsement

ROME -- It's not clear this is the kind of international endorsement Sen. John McCain is looking for.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, 71, waded into the U.S. presidential race on Thursday, saying he prefers McCain because his election would mean Berlusconi would no longer be the oldest leader at meetings of international leaders.

"I suppose I could express my own personal preference for one of the candidates, the Republican candidate," Berlusconi said. "And this is for a very selfish reason, and that is that I would no longer be the oldest person at the upcoming G-8 because McCain is a month older than me."

The man beside him when he made the remarks was President Bush, who is on an eight-day farewell trip through Europe and the United Kingdom. Bush chuckled, but didn't address the endorsement in his own remarks.

-- Dan Eggen