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Rahm Emanuel, Obama's Chief of Staff, Wields Power Freely, but Faces Risks
via nytimes.com

When I worked on Capitol Hill a million years ago, Rahm Emanuel was the political director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee -- the political arm of House Democrats.

The Democratic Congressman I worked for at the time represented a very Republican District. At election time, the Congressman routinely attracted the support of Republicans and Independents, but not in large margins. I don't think he ever was re-elected with more than 55% of the vote in his 20 year career.

At political director, Emanuel hounded the boss over fundraising and making sure he was taking care of the politics back home. He was relentless. While the boss hated it, because of Emanuel's tenacious approach to politics, his re-election bids weren't as stressful the times Emanuel was involved.

And that's how the Democrats kept the majority -- at least until 1994. (By then Emanuel was gone from the DCCC.)

Now that he's President Obama's chief of staff, I expect -- and hope -- he's chasing after the Democrats who aren't supporting the President's agenda, particularly on health care.

Filed under: Barack Obama DCCC Rahm Emanuel
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