WASHINGTON — Acting swiftly as his party’s presumed presidential nominee, Barack Obama is keeping Howard Dean at the helm of the Democratic National Committee, while bringing in one of his top strategists to oversee the party’s operations.
The campaign also announced that the DNC will no longer accept donations from lobbyists and political action committees, to comply with Obama’s campaign policy.
Party officials say they expect the DNC’s staff to quickly expand to run an aggressive general-election campaign.
Campaign adviser Paul Tewes was dispatched to help lead the changes Thursday.
“Sen. Obama appreciates the hard work that chairman Dean has done to grow our party at the grassroots level and looks forward to working with him as the chairman of the Democratic Party as we go forward,” Obama spokesman Bill Burton said.
By keeping Dean as party chairman, Obama ended up taking sides in a long-running dispute between Washington-based Democratic Party leaders and state party officials.
Although Obama campaign officials have expressed concern in the past that the party did not have enough money, Obama shares Dean’s goal of building the party from the ground up, even in states where Republicans dominate.
