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Dingell machine kicks into gear for wife’s race
« on: April 01, 2014, 01:28:27 am »
Politico

Dingell machine kicks into gear for wife’s race

 By ANNA PALMER and JOHN BRESNAHAN | 3/30/14 11:00 PM EDT

Rep. John Dingell — the longest-serving lawmaker in congressional history — vows his wife is going to run her own campaign to take the Michigan seat he will leave open when he retires this year.

“She will make her own decisions,” Dingell said of his wife, Debbie Dingell, in an interview. “We will determine what is proper for me to do after consulting with my attorney [former White House Counsel Bob Bauer], and once we get that information, we’ll see what she wants me to do.”

But while the iconic Democrat might be putting himself on the sidelines for now, the political machine he and his wife built over the past three decades is already kicking into gear for her.

Debbie Dingell, a longtime Beltway power broker in her own right, has tapped into the vast network of her husband’s former aides to begin filling up her campaign war chest, and she received some face time and an endorsement from her husband at a recent Wolverine State delegation meeting.

The depth of campaign and donor support Dingell already enjoys is nearly unprecedented for a first-time candidate, a reminder of the power of a family and its name in Washington politics. A Dingell has served in the House for the past 81 years.

Debbie Dingell’s spokeswoman noted the candidate’s connections in Michigan are deep. “She has attended countless community events, breakfasts, coffees,” said Dingell spokeswoman Liz Boyd, noting the numerous endorsements from local officials, unions and EMILY’s List. Debbie Dingell declined to comment for this article.

While John Dingell is publicly cautious about his wife’s campaign, many of his allies are coming to her side helping her raise money and giving her political advice.

A trio of former senior Dingell aides hosted a fundraiser for Debbie Dingell on Friday morning, just in time for the March 31 Federal Election Commission first-quarter report deadline.

Veteran lobbyists John Orlando of CBS; Alan Roth of the U.S. Telecom Association; and Tom Ryan of Ryan, MacKinnon, Vasapoli and Berzok are co-hosting the lunch event at CBS’s Washington office, with a suggested contribution of $2,600 for hosts and $1,000 for guests, according to a copy of the invitation.

“As a longtime friend and supporter of John and Debbie you recognize how important this race is to both of them,” the three wrote in an email invite. “Your consideration to support Debbie and help her raise the early funds necessary to launch a successful campaign is appreciated.”

Debbie Dingell is also getting support from the auto industry, with which she has long been involved, most recently working with the American Automotive Policy Council. Debbie Dingell was also a longtime General Motors executive, and her husband was long seen as one of the Big Three automakers closest allies on Capitol Hill.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is the venue for a Monday morning fundraiser co-hosted by Alliance CEO Mitch Bainwol; Delta Airlines PAC; Ford Motor PAC; and Home Depot PAC. Hosts are expected to donate $5,000; co-hosts $2,500; and attendees $1,000.

Dingell advisers said that while she is doing some Washington events, the majority of her time has been spent in Michigan’s 12th Congressional District. So far, she has gotten personal commitments from more than 200 local officials and all of the Democratic mayors and supervisors in the district have endorsed her.

“She’s been doing an incredible amount of fundraising in Michigan,” Dingell spokeswoman Boyd said. “Debbie is a force here in Michigan and has been for so long.”

Since announcing her candidacy a month ago, Dingell will have done five Michigan-based fundraisers by Monday, including one with progressive women in Ann Arbor, and she is in the process of scheduling 20 more fundraisers in the next couple of months, according to Boyd.

Debbie Dingell is not using her husband’s fundraiser, Mike Fraioli. Instead, she has brought on Michigan-based Rebecca Bahar-Cook and Cheryl Bergman and does not have a D.C.-based fundraiser.

But her focus hasn’t been just on Michigan.

She has also used Fred Yang of Garin Hart Yang Polling; J.B. Poersch of SKDKnickerbocker has also been advising her campaign. Yang and Poersch are well-known Democratic political operatives with years of experience.

On Wednesday, John Dingell talked up his wife in front of roughly 300 people during a Michigan delegation breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Washington.

Dingell told attendees that his wife is “going to succeed me,” according to a source at the event.

Still, for his part, Dingell says he’s made no decisions about what role he’ll play in his wife’s campaign, although he stressed repeatedly that it was Debbie Dingell’s race to run, not his.

“She’s going to run her own campaign,” Dingell said in an interview.

Dingell was very cautious when discussing his wife’s campaign and what impact, if any, he might have on the race.

“She is a woman who thinks for herself, and who does her own thing, which is what she’s been doing ever since she married me,” Dingell added. “She will persist in that because she is one of the most fiercely independent women that I’ve ever met.”

So far, Debbie Dingell is the only official candidate in the Aug. 5 primary. Earlier this month, state Sen. Rebekah Warren decided to seek reelection rather than vie for the seat to be left open by John Dingell’s retirement.

Debbie Dingell’s advisers say that her focus is on the 12th District, not Washington.

Debbie Dingell could hire her husband’s campaign staff, which would make sense given John Dingell’s decades of electoral success in Michigan. Debbie Dingell could also set up a PAC using his campaign funds to support her effort, although the veteran lawmaker said he’s still reviewing all those options with his legal team.

Dingell has $331,000 in his campaign coffers and $31,000 in his leadership political action committee Wolverine PAC.