November 15, 2006
The Daily Troika: Who's In Rudy's Kitchen?
Alex Castellanos is now officially aboard Team Romney. A Commonwealth PAC official confirms that Castellanos, always quick with a pro-Romney quote, has joined as an adviser. If Romney runs for President, Castellanos will likely serve as his chief media strategist. Castellanos is a principal at National Media, a native of Cuba and an adviser to presidents and senators. He joins a growing roster of Republican establishment heavyweights who've signed on to Romney's presidential explorations, including Barbara Comstock, Noam Neusner, Ron Kaufman and Tom Rath.
Sen. Evan Bayh is likely to form a presidential exploratory committee by the end of the year. Bayh meets today with the three new Democratic members of Congress from Indiana. He won't make a final decision on a race until after the holidays. (Hotline)
In our brand new Hotline/Diageo poll, in WH '08 matchups among RVs, John McCain leads Hillary Clinton 45%-40%; he leads Barack Obama 39%-35%; and he leads John Edwards 42%-35%. But a generic Dem leads a generic GOPer 40%-27%.
Keying off of this week's Rudy Giuliani exploratory festivus, here's a look the mayor's political kitchen cabinet:
--Anthony Carbonetti -- founding partner of Giuliani Partners; former CoS to Giuliani in NYC; would probably serve as campaign C.O.O.
--Chris Henick -- former dep. pol. dir at WH; now a senior pol. adviser to Giuliani; spoke to Giuliani on 9/11
--Peter Powers -- ex deputy mayor, listed on exploratory committee as director
--Anne Dickerson -- major GOP fundraiser; would likely serve as finance dir for pres. campaign
--Dennison Young, Jr. -- ex. chief counsel for Giuliani in NYC
--Sunny Mindel -- vice pres. at Giuliani Partners; chief spokeswoman for Giuliani
--John Avlon -- snr policy and communications adviser at Solutions America
--Bobby Burchfield, Jr -- counsel of record for exploratory committee
--John Gross -- campaign treasurer
--Matthew Mahoney -- vice pres. at Giuliani Partners; political aide
--Outside advisers: Michael Hess (ex corp. counsel for NYC, founding Giuliani Partner), Joe Lhota (ex dep. mayor for ops, NYC budget dir)
Squibs:
NY Gov. George Pataki (R) said he's not running for anything "yet" (AP).
Edwards, asked if he would like to announce anything: "I actually do have an announcement, just between us. If people go to my website, johnedwards.com, in the next few weeks, they may see something new and exciting" ("Daily Show").
Posted at 09:48 AM
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