This is another manufactured 'controversy', it's just ridiculous on a daily basis.

Per politico:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1 007/An_email_from_the_DCCC.html

UPDATE: It's a "list-swap," says DCCC spokeswoman Jennifer Crider. The campaign committee -- as Politico reported yesterday (!) -- is trying to broaden its fundraising base with an offer to send an email on a candidate's behalf to its list, in exchange for access to their similar-sized lists. The offer has been extended to Clinton, Obama, and Edwards; Clinton is the only one to take them up on it so far.

Mystery solved.

Obama and Edwards were given the same opportunity but they declined in order to save their precious email lists.

Stop whining...

Her husband is the popular ex President.

That is going to upset the haters.  But what can be done about that?

Here is what the DCCC posted:

DCCC NOT endorsing Presidentials

Brandon from the DCCC here:

I don't know if you all saw our Howard Dean e-mail on Tuesday -- http://www.dccc.org/... -- but the DCCC is launching an aggressive effort to grow our list through the end of the year by working with the Presidentials and other progressive groups -- the Hillary e-mail was just the first.  Nothing's changed -- the DCCC is not endorsing Presidentials.

The Politico wrote all this up yesterday:
http://www.politico.com/...

Committee brass hope to incorporate other leading voices in the party, including the presidential candidates, to build its database of names and confact information and to access the candidates massive network of online supporters.

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards all have large e-mail lists that other campaign committees covet for fundraising, volunteers and voter outreach.

Committee aides hope to recruit these online supporters for the rapid response network, send them online petitions, distribute campaign videos, conduct online policy and political briefs and get involved in grassroots strategy sessions, according to one aide.

Sorry to post twice but wanted to make sure everyone saw.  Here's the full article:
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will cast its net wide and far through the end of the year to build a bigger bank of online supporters - an increasingly essential element in political fundraising.

The campaign arm would like to add the names and e-mail addresses of 250,000 potential supporters over the next three months, according to a Democratic aide.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean started things off Wednesday by sending an e-mail to DCCC supporters encouraging them to join the DCCC's rapid response network, a community of devoted activists who send letters to local newspapers, organize outreach efforts and contribute money for ad campaigns and other mobilization drives.

Committee brass hope to incorporate other leading voices in the party, including the presidential candidates, to build its database of names and confact information and to access the candidates massive network of online supporters.

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards all have large e-mail lists that other campaign committees covet for fundraising, volunteers and voter outreach.

Committee aides hope to recruit these online supporters for the rapid response network, send them online petitions, distribute campaign videos, conduct online policy and political briefs and get involved in grassroots strategy sessions, according to one aide.

In his e-mail, Dean encourages supporters to join the rapid response network and credits this outreach arm with helping the committee to launch television ads rebutting a large ad campaign by a White House-affiliated group to make the case that U.S. troops should remain in Iraq.

"No Republican attack should go unanswered from here on out," Dean wrote. "With your help, we can fight back and continue Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi's (D-Calif.) New Direction for America."

He also appeals for a few dollars to fund the party's efforts to win the White House and expand its majorities in the House and Senate.

"The 2008 elections are a little over a year away," Dean wrote. "We will need both a Democrat in the White House and a strong Democratic Congress to make lasting change. We must work together to succeed. Please make a contribution to help House Democrats continue building a sophisticated rapid response operation to strengthen and secure our Democratic Majority."

Dean's note is expected to be the first of many in the coming weeks.

I'm not sure I understand this, frankly, and I wonder if anyone is going to give me the short version.

I don't think this is the apocalypse, but neither does it strike me as quite kosher.  Maybe I'll get it figured out.

The DCCC offered the ALL of the Presidential candidates the opportunity to get an e-mail out to its list.

As of right now, only Hillary accepted.

Anyone who's upset at the DCCC for sending out an e-mail for the Hillary campaign should be more upset at their preferred candidate(s) for not taking the DCCC up on their offer.

So what?  Sounds like other candidates have been afforded this opportunity as well.

Slightly off-topic, but...

About a month ago, I sent the Clinton campaign an email asking why she alone among Democratic candidates (at that point) had refused to sign the anti-torture declaration that was being floated around.

Needless to say, I got no answer, other than a generic email thanking me for my comments and welcoming me to the campaign. Now I get all of the Clinton campaign's missives asking me to wish Hillary a happy birthday, make a contribution to her warchest, and so forth.

I only mention this in the event that the Clinton campaign ever touts the size of its online community. Said community may not be all it seems!

more conspiracy theory stuff!

Well, the CBC has essentially endorsed Clinton.

Or is it the CCC these days: "The Congressional Clinton Caucus."

"Dear DCCC,

I just unsubscribed from your emails and I'm writing in to complain about an email I just received about Hillary Clinton and her birthday. I think this email was completely unfair and I'm really upset about it. John Edwards and Barack Obama, nor any of the other candiates, didn't get emails like this on their birthdays. By sending out an email for Hillary, you make it sound like the DCCC is supporting her. And not just that, but the email leads everyone to her campaign site, where it asks for campaign contributions! This is unethical and unfair. I would like the DCCC to stick to US House races. What are you doing sending out an email for one particular Presidential candidate?

In addition, the email says paid for by the DCCC. Thousands of people have made contributions to the DCCC, so we can win US House races, not to help certain Presidential candidates. This is rediculous and I'm offended by it."

And I'm sorry, but most of the people on the DCCC mailing list probably don't read blogs and even less Politico. This Birthday email doesn't give any kind of explanation about what the purpose of the email was for. It makes it sounds like the DCCC is endorsing her and using their funds to help her.

I was angry enough to unsubscribe.  Screw the DCCC and Emanuel.

I have stopped giving money to the DCCC anyway.  I prefer to do my own research on candidates, support netroots candidates, and not to give them my money to use in supporting the hand-picked no-change toe-the-line candidates, anyway.

There is a lot wrong with this diary:

1. The diarist MUST disclose that she is actively working and blogging as an Obama campaign worker.  Otherwise nobody will understand why she won't look at the DCCC email and understand that the DCCC made this offer to all 3 top-tier candidates, with one so far accepting, the others could well follow suit.  

2. The diarist has stated in previous posts that Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton are sworn enemies of Howard Dean, that they can't stand him, have and are actively looking to derail him.  Now we are to believe that the opposite is true, that indeed Dean is IN BED with the "Clinton machine," that he instructed his organization to "endorse" Hillary Clinton by sending "birthday emails" out for her.   You can't have it both ways, try as you might.  Either they are bitter enemies or they are best of friends and in bed together.  

3. Conspiracy theories like this one only work when there is a "there" there.  The DCCC email clearly shows that there is not.  That should have been the end of the story.  UNLESS you are a campaign worker for the Obama campaign who blogs from Obama's Iowa HQ in an attempt to churn a story that does not exist.

This is a problem at all levels of the Democratic Party -- party offices and resources being used for Clinton. In my county, the executive board hired as an executive director a Clinton staffer and offered no explanation to volunteers, even as they are asking the same volunteers to sign up for committees and precinct work for fall of 08.

The fall-out is not merely that it pisses people off; its going to deter volunteers and small donors. Even if we were to believe the most optimistic of the Clinton campaign's own assessments, they have half the support of primary voters.

That means at least half of the activists and small donors that the party needs nationally, this year and every year -- probably much more than half, but we won't go into that -- prefer another candidate and another platform as their vision of where the Democratic party should be going. If our vision, our input, our efforts aren't worthy of respect of dccc staff, or party staff at any level, then why should be help out when the same staff calls and asks for help in the future?

And of course, put differently, this makes it nearly inevitable that there's going to be a lot of staff turnover if someone else wins the nom.

I knew Van Hollen was a good guy! He really came through for Clinton. No, I'm serious

I'm a little slow. Let me see if I've got this straight, OK?

The frontrunner Democratic Party candidate, with a huge mailing list and the most sophisticated voter database operation the Democrats have ever seen is cooperating with the DCCC to trade mailing lists and help the party with down ticket races? And, Democrats are complaining about this?

Where's the beef here? Would you rather see the DCCC trade lists with Fred Thompson? Ralph Nader?

I take it this is everyone's first year on a political email list. The DCCC regularly swaps lists with lots of people, I've gotten emails from Kerry, MoveOn, Durbin, all sorts of people. According to the DCCC they did a swap with Dean and now Clinton (after offering to swap with all of the presidentials). The links don't even go to a donate page, just a Clinton sign-up page.

So what exactly is the problem here, ethically or otherwise? If you don't like Clinton don't sign the birthday card. The complaints here sound like a bunch of paranoid losers.

(and BTW, people appear to have forgotten that Rahm Emanuel, former chairman of the DCCC and rep from Chicago's 5th district, is very close to Obama.)

Good for Obama for not swapping out my name.  When I signed up I did so to support a Presidential Candidate, not offer up my name to be sold or traded.  What right does the Clinton campaign have to exchange personal information of its donors without their permission?  And what right does the DCCC have?

It is very important that the DCCC and the Democratic Senate committee work closely with the Clinton campaign and their friendly 527 groups. Clinton will be orchestrating a massive get-out-the-vote effort targeted at women in the general election. Every Democratic candidate will benefit enormously from that effort. Consolidating those lists at Catalist for proper targeting is crucial.