"Dean Agrees to Finance Some Programs for Turnout"

NY Times (AdNag):

Ending a long and cantankerous standoff with House Democratic leaders, Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has agreed to a limited program to finance get-out-the-vote operations this November, party officials said Tuesday.

But Mr. Dean remained at loggerheads with Senate Democrats, who continued to insist he provide more money.

The committee said it would provide $12 million to finance turnout operations for candidates running for the House and the Senate, and for state races. Just $2.6 million would go to finance turnout operations in 40 House races, far less than House Democratic leaders had asked for.

By contrast, the Republican National Committee has said it will spend more than $30 million of the $176 million raised this cycle to finance Republican turnout efforts, most of it going to House and Senate races.

Mr. Dean had staved off demands for more money from Democratic leaders in Congress, saying it was in the long-term interest of the Democrats to instead use the nearly $100 million he has raised this year to build strong Democratic organizations in all 50 states by giving them money to hire staff members.

The disagreement had sparked a lively feud between Mr. Dean and Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, who is leading the Democratic effort to win back the House. Mr. Emanuel and Mr. Dean stopped speaking to each other several months ago.

Mr. Emanuel’s aides said he was satisfied with the deal. “Yeah, we’re happy,” said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Between our effort, the D.N.C. effort, the labor effort and what other Democrats are doing, we’re going to have what we need for voter turnout.”

Mr. Emanuel’s counterpart in the Senate, Charles E. Schumer of New York, did not share his assessment. “We’re still in the process of negotiating,” Mr. Schumer said. “We’re hoping that we’ll have an amicable agreement that will make everyone happy.”