Pretty much everyone here at dKos is probably aware of the recent Republican attempt to steal the 2008 election using a ballot initiative in California that would have wound up allocating that state's electoral votes by Congressional district rather than on a winner take all basis. The result would have been twenty or so "free" electoral votes for the Republican candidate.
If you were following this now-defeated plot you probably know that when the dust settled it became clear that it was being funded by a small number of Giuliani backers. What I only learned tonight from an article republished on truthout.org is that this may have been the first scuffle in a possible general election fight between Giuliani and the Clinton campaign.
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According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the measure was defeated by a "war room" type operation staffed by former members of the Bill Clinton administration and funded largely by current Hillary Clinton supporters. Political observers will recognize some of the names, noticeably Chris Lehane who was quoted saying "We need to fight back and not be reluctant - that if they come after you with a knife, to pull out a gun."
A Republican strategist quoted in the article confirms both the effectiveness of the Democratic response as well as the true underlying goal of the ballot measure:
Veteran California Republican strategist Dan Schnur conceded that the recent Democratic effort against the ballot measure was astonishingly effective. But he argued that the result - Republican supporters have for the most part backed away from the measure - may have been due more to the high stakes and a hunger to get back into the White House than brilliant campaign strategy.
"There's an old saying: Nothing concentrates your attention like the prospect of your own destruction," Schnur said. "They correctly identified this as a mortal blow to their Electoral College prospects next year. If they hadn't mobilized with everything they had, they would have been signing their own death warrant."
The operation was apparently coordinated at a fairly high level within the national Democratic organization:
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean flew to San Francisco for a press conference with labor leaders to "make it very clear from the beginning that the new Democratic Party is not going to take it lying down - we still stand and fight," said DNC spokesman Karen Finney.
It's sometimes possible to feel cowed by the Republican machine -- they never seem to give up and they're willing to try such outlandish and seemingly ridiculous schemes to grab and hold on to power that sometimes you despair of being able to counter them. I'm glad to see that the Democrats are developing the kind of response that can handle them. Now, I'd like to see the Democrats go on the attack.
Although this battle was fought between supporters of Giuliani and Clinton, don't think for a moment that only Giuliani is up for this kind of sneak attack on democracy, or that only Clinton should have this kind of response ready. If Kerry had had a war room this organized (not withstanding the fact the Lehane actually worked on the Kerry campaign) we might not be in the situation we're in now.
A list of key players on the Democratic (winning!) side of this battle, from the article at truthout:
Chris Lehane: former White House spokesman for President Bill Clinton and 2000 spokesman for Al Gore's presidential campaign. Lehane is supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential effort.
Doug Boxer: consultant and son of U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer of California.
Tom Steyer: founder of San Francisco's Farallon Capital Management, one of Sen. Clinton's biggest donors and a leading fundraiser for 2004 John Kerry campaign.
Margie Sullivan: Farallon Capital management analyst, Democratic fundraiser and former chief of staff to three U.S. Cabinet secretaries during the Clinton administration.
Ari Swiller: Democratic fundraiser and "kitchen cabinet" insider of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Hillary Clinton backer.
Peter Ragone: a former aide in the Clinton administration and Gore spokesman. He is former spokesman for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a Clinton endorser.
Bill Carrick: longtime Democratic strategist for U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who has endorsed Hillary Clinton.
Paul Maslin: veteran Democratic pollster, formerly for Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and now for New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democratic presidential candidate.
Sean Sullivan: opposition researcher formerly with the San Francisco firm of Averell "Ace" Smith, who is now Hillary Clinton's California campaign manager.