Subject: [big campaign] Off to the DNC...Temporarily
From: "Brad Woodhouse" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:19:54 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

As you may have seen (story below), I am taking a Leave Of Absence until
November from Americans United at the request of the Obama Campaign to
run the national communications effort at the Democratic National
Committee for the General Election.  There, our team will do everything
in our power to expose John McCain as nothing more than a third Bush
term and to promote the change we need in America - which is embodied in
Barack Obama and the progressive values Americans United and all you and
your organizations have been fight for for so long.

I am proud of all the work we have done at Americans United with each of
you since the very beginning when we were organized to the fight and
defeat the President's effort to dismantle Social Security through
privatization in 2005.  I am grateful to the AUFC board of directors for
granting me a leave of absence so I can take on this important
assignment and return to a job I love in November.

We have an awesome team at Americans United and they are prepared to
continue all the work we do in support of the progressive agenda.  We
just launched our soon to be famous Bush Legacy Project and Bus; we
continue to help manage the Iraq Campaign 2008 and do the earned
communications for that effort; we are deeply involved in a massive
healthcare campaign to be launched next month; and we, through the CAN
coalition, will continue to push vital domestic priorities, and hold
Bush and his allies accountable for standing in the way, by working on a
host of issues which Congress may consider in the coming months
including: improvements to Medicare, SCHIP, energy legislation, economic
recovery initiatives, just to name a few.  

AUFC's Deputy Executive Director Caren Benjamin will be joined by some
exciting additions to the Americans United team (to be announced Monday)
to run Americans United in my absence.  Caren can be reached at
202-470-5881 or by email at [email-masked]. Also
- our Communications Director Jeremy Funk can be reached at 202-470-5878
or by email at [email-masked].  

I start at the DNC on Monday.  I don't have a direct phone line yet but
I will keep the same cell phone number (202-251-5669) and can be reached
by email at [email-masked] (though I will be checking emails at this
address for a few more days.)  One of the things our team will be
focused on at the DNC is working with outside groups and unions which
are allowed to coordinate with the DNC on Obama-McCain message and
McCain rapid response push back nationally and in the field.  Please
drop me a line if you'd like to work with us in that capacity.

Brad Woodhouse, President

Americans United for Change

202-470-5858 

202-251-5669 (cell)

[email-masked]

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/06/woodhouse_to_dnc.html

Woodhouse to DNC

The takeover of the Democratic National Committee by Barack Obama's
campaign continues apace with the hiring of communications operative
Brad Woodhouse at the national party committee.

Woodhouse will share duties with current communications director Karen
Finney -- a similar setup to the one the Obama campaign has put in place
with other recent moves such as installing Paul Tewes as the de facto
executive director of the committee but leaving current DNC executive
director Tom McMahon in his job. Those familiar with the setup say that
Finney will remain a spokesperson for the DNC while Woodhouse will run
the day to day operations of the organization. All of the current DNC
press staff will remain in place.

Neither Woodhouse nor the DNC would comment on the pending move.

For Woodhouse, who has been running the issue-oriented progressive group
Americans United for the last several years, his new post is a return
home. He has a number of long-standing relationships with senior level
staffers at the Obama campaign. Woodhouse did a stint in the consulting
firm of Tewes and Steve Hildebrand, one of the lead strategists for the
Illinois Senator, and has a relationship with Obama press operative
Robert Gibbs that dates back to the late 1990s when the duo worked
together in Rep. Bobby Etheridge's (D-N.C.) office. Woodhouse is taking
leave from his current post at the head of Americans United but will
return to the job once the election ends.

Woodhouse's hiring is the latest sign that Obama's campaign is working
to install operatives of their own choosing in key roles across the
party to ensure that the brand the Illinois Senator has built during the
primary season is preserved in the general election. In addition to
Tewes, recently named campaign political director Matt Nugen as the head
of operations for the Democratic National Convention later this summer
in Denver.

The takeover of the national party by the presidential nominee is
nothing new. Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) did much the same earlier this
year after securing his party's nod. It is always a delicate process,
however, as new faces must be moved in without offending the old faces
already in place.

Chris Cillizza
"The Fix"
The Washington Post
[email-masked]

 

Brad Woodhouse, President

Americans United for Change

202-470-5858 

202-251-5669 (cell)

[email-masked]

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