WaPo: Obama Campaign Will Use Six Consulting 'Teams'

[featherman]

Wonky article about restructuring the campaign for the GE from Chris Cillizza

"Less than 24 hours after securing the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama is putting in place six teams of campaign consultants that will handle advertising, polling and direct-mail efforts for the general election campaign.

Much of the expanded structure is built on an existing core of consultants Obama has relied on throughout his primary bid, although the expansion is significant and includes many (although not all) of the up-and-coming firms on the Democratic side.

snip/

Splitting the media consultants into teams focused on specific regions is an idea borrowed from the structure used to great effect in the last few cycles by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The goal of such an approach is to take full advantage of the knowledge about a particular state or region accrued by a consultant or group of consultants over a series of past campaigns.

Building out a candidate's political team is always a difficult task fraught with potential peril. The consulting game is rife with petty personal rivalries built up over years of running campaigns against one another; if those disagreements bubble over into a full-blown power struggle (see "Kerry, John" in 2004) it has the potential to hamstring the campaign at its most critical moments.

Obama, to date, has run an extremely tight ship on the staffing front -- no public infighting and, much to The Fix's chagrin, no serious leaking of inside information.

The fact that none of this list of consultants leaked until after Obama was formally the nominee (the interviews have been ongoing over the last few weeks) is a sign of the level of discipline the campaign demands.

more at: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/06/obama_will_use_six_consulting.html

[speedoo]

1. This Obama dude is freakin' smart.

K&R

[DCKit]

5. Maybe, maybe not.

But he's smart enough to listen to people who may know more about any subject he's got to deal with, and he's willing to listen.

My grandfather taught me a lot of things, but one of the smartest things he ever said regarding management was: "Surround yourself with people who make YOU look good."

How long has it been since we've had a MANAGER in the WH?

[Pisces]

2. He is scaring the shit out of the Repukes.

[featherman]

3. Organization: it's how he won the nomination against all odds

As the great Wobblie Joe Hill said on the gallows "Don't mourn, organize!

(not sure how that's relevant but I like to remind myself of it once in a while)

[aquart]

4. Oh, the gallows and the mourning are apt enough.

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. I'm amazed at the energy levels these guys have...

Obama and his crew go like 20 hours a day, every single day, with meetings, conferences, interviews
its almost non stop to be on top of every thing going on.

I'm a fricking amazed