By The Prowler on 12.22.08 @ 6:08AM
Obama team makes new use Clinton-backer lists. Also: An
alternative to Jeb Bush.
CHECKING THEIR LISTS
While the list of donors made public by the William J. Clinton
Foundation to speed along the potential nomination of Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton for Secretary of State,
makes for interesting reading, more interesting are the back
channel communications between senior Barack
Obama advisers and the Clintons.
"They want our fundraising lists and other materials," says a
longtime Bill Clinton aide. "They want to use it
for the Obama-Biden Transition Project, so I guess it's going to
be a long transition."
The Obama-Biden Transition Project, is, in fact, a 501(c)(4) tax
exempt organization, which Obama advisers say will maintain a
full staff and fundraising capabilities after Obama takes office.
Similar to other tax exempt organizations, it can receive funds
from corporations, foreign governments, and foreign citizens. The
Clinton foundation has collected almost $50 million from foreign
governments, and millions more from other foreign entities and
individuals.
The "Transition Project" has been shrouded in mystery, as much of
the transition work has been undertaken by the official Obama
transition operation, which is largely funded by tax dollars
through the Government Services Administration.
Several sources inside the Obama transition team have said that
current "Transition Project" employees have been vetting and
maintaining contact with future employees of cabinet-level
departments and regulatory agencies, with the goal of moving
those "Project" employees back to the private sector as lobbyists
and public affairs professionals.
"It's about building the next big donor pool in Washington to
support our causes," says an Obama aide positing the purpose
behind the entity.
Another aide believes that the funds collected by the "Project"
will be used for quasi-political, issues-oriented work. "This is
the kind of operation that can be effective, given the data we
collected during the campaign, to focus grassroots support for
our policies, do advertising, that kind of thing."
Regardless of the goals, it now appears that Obama not only has
the Clintons in his corner, he has their lists, which may be far
more valuable in the longterm.
ON DECK
Rep. Connie Mack
has told friends in Florida that he is interested in filling Sen.
Mel Martinez's Senate seat upon his retirement in 2010, but won't
commit until former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has
made a decision on what he will do.
Martinez has already said that he will not leave the Senate
early, though many Republicans would prefer that he do just that.
"Given that we have a Republican governor who can make the
appointment, and we can give that appointee maybe eighteen months
to hit the ground running, we'd be stupid not to do just that,"
says one Senate leadership aide. "But [Senate Minority Leader
Mitch] McConnell hasn't raised
the issue yet."
