As SDP has reported before, Daschle's former/current campaign manager and several former/current Daschle staffers are being paid by Americans United, which has been big in their permanent campaign against Senator Thune. According to today's Roll Call, they could be closing up shop. There's a big meeting about the group going on in DC today:
On another front, the Democrats’ main outside ally in the fight against Bush’s Social Security proposal, Americans United to Protect Social Security, announced in an internal memo that they would be declaring victory over Bush.
In a conference call and meeting with its staff in Washington, D.C., and its field directors scheduled for today, the group said it was now planning its “final phase” of the fight.
“We must declare victory in this fight and make it clear that privatization has lost because it is a bad idea and because Americans United and our allies have run a model national issue campaign of nearly unprecedented scale and intensity,” wrote Ann Widger, an aide for the group.
With the Social Security battle nearing the victory stage for liberals, discussions are under way in regard to what to do with Americans United.
Financially, the group always has been on shaky ground with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees as its main financial backer. Today’s meeting of Americans United and its coalition partners is being held at AFSCME headquarters here in D.C.
This week, Americans United began laying off some staff, said several sources in the Democratic activist community.
AFSCME officials hope to reach an agreement with other labor leaders and individual donors to keep Americans United around with a broader mission to tackle other issue items beyond just Social Security. But that issue has not been decided.
One Democrat familiar with those talks said the group always has been somewhat bloated in staff size, so shedding some staff might improve its longer-term survival prospects.
“By running a more streamlined organization, it will also make it more attractive to donors, particularly those outside of labor,” the Democratic source said.
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