DEMOCRATS REACH A DEAL ON 2006 CAMPAIGN FUNDS

ABC’s Teddy Davis reports: They may not talk to one another; but they’ve reached a deal. Working through the DNC’s Tom McMahon and the DCCC’s Karin Johanson, DNC Chairman Howard Dean and DCCC Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) have reached a deal whereby the DNC will spend $60,000 on each of Emanuel’s top 40 House races, according to a DCCC source.

"We reached an agreement to invest in 40 races," said DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney. "That investment is part of the $12 million in hard dollars the DNC will invest in 2006."

The DNC’s $12 million will go to coordinated campaigns and state parties to help with House races, Senate races, gubernatorial races, and state legislative races where reapportionment will be coming up.

This spending comes on top of $40 million that the AFL-CIO plans to spend plus millions more being spent by the DCCC and DSCC on their own field programs.

Despite this year’s favorable political climate, Democrats’ organizing has been hampered by a philosophical dispute between Dean, who thinks the long-term health of the Democratic Party depends on a 50-state strategy, and congressional Democrats, who want to direct party resources to a smaller group of states featuring the year’s most competitive races.