RAHM SERVICE
Late Monday, Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) removed
his name from consideration to replace Rep. Bob
Matsui as chairman of the Democratic Congressional
Campaign Committee. His decision to pull out after being wooed by
some members of Democratic House leadership appeared to coincide
with the emergence of Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.),
a former senior adviser to Pres. Bill Clinton, as
the favorite for the post.
Emanuel, according to House Democratic sources, has already
begun calling colleagues and marshaling support. “He’s the natural
replacement for Matsui,” says a moderate Democratic House member.
“He’s done the work. He knows Washington, and his Clinton years
have given him access to national fundraising resources.”
Even before the passing of Matsui, Democratic leaders, including
Minority leader Nancy Pelosi, were pressing
Emanuel to consider taking the reins of the DCCC, after he served
as a vice-chairman of the committee during the last election cycle.
He apparently has wavered, hoping instead that he could somehow
land a seat on the Ways and Means Committee. As it happens, Matsui
served on that committee, meaning with his death a seat on Ways and
Means has now opened up. Some believe that Emanuel is seeking to
cut a deal that would get him Matsui’s seat in return for taking on
the challenge of raising money for Democrats and recruiting
candidates.
BROWN NOSES
Bush Administration foreign policy types are not thrilled with the
appointment of Mark Malloch Brown, currently head
of the U.N. Development Program, to take over as U.N. Secretary
General Kofi Annan’s chief of staff. That’s
because Malloch Brown is viewed as a favorite of Clinton and Kerry
political and foreign policy adviser Richard
Holbrooke.
“You look at everything happening up there in New York, and the
Clinton people are all over it,” says a Foggy Bottom observer.
“Holbrooke is up there openly campaigning for Annan and the U.N.
It’s like they think the election never happened.”
Holbrooke has emerged as one of Annan’s and the U.N.’s most
ardent supporters in the wake of that body’s embarrassing
corruption scandals and the overly politicized, anti-American tenor
Annan is perceived to have engendered.
Holbrooke has been pressing a pro-Annan line with the U.S.
foreign policy, in an attempt to build support for Annan to remain
as head of the U.N. Malloch Brown, who is British, is believed to
have been the hand-picked choice of a group of Annan advisers,
including Holbrooke.
Holbrooke was thought to be at the least the second choice for
Secretary of State, had Sen. John Kerry been
elected.
