Hillary Takes Swipe at Howard Dean

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is taking direct aim at Howard Dean, saying the Democratic National Committee boss has his party priorities wrong.

Clinton, D-N.Y., who opposed Dean's ascendancy to the DNC post depite Sen. John Kerry's support, said Dean's long-term party-building efforts should take a back seat to fundraising for the midterm elections, Newsday reports.

"The [Republican National Committee] is pouring tens of millions of dollars into races and we're not matching that," Clinton said during a DNC fundraiser in Washington, D.C.

"We're doing investments, you know, in ground and other efforts which will be very beneficial, but the RNC has about $60 million to $70 million waiting to drop on our candidates," she said, according to Newsday.

Many Democrats, including Clinton advisers, are frustrated with Dean's "50-state strategy," which accentuates grassroots organizing at the expense of election-specific cash-grabbing.

The Democrats' Senate and House fundraising committees, led by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Rahm Emmanuel, D-Ill., have had banner years, while Dean's DNC has lagged with about $11 million on hand compared to the RNC's $39 million in the bank.

Clinton is so concerned about the money issue that she has Harold M. Ickes, one of former President Clinton's top advisers, spearheading the launch of an ad hoc organization called the September Fund to solicit contributions to help Democratic candidates win in November.

Ickes and his allies have formed this emergency committee in an effort to raise and spend as much as $25 million to influence crucial Congressional races and other campaigns and ballot initiatives at the federal and state level, according to the New York Times.