Washington on the Hudson

In yet further confirmation of our (okay, Ben Smith's) theory of the Washingtonization of New York politics, Team Freddy Ferrer announced today that it has just hired former Kerry spokesman Chad Clanton as the campaign's new P.R. maestro. And they sound pretty pleased about it. According to a press release, issued this afternoon by the Ferrer campaign, Mr. Clanton not only "played a critical role" in helping develop the Kerry's camp's notoriously sluggish (oops, we meant lightening-fast) rapid response operation, but he's also "run campaigns" with those grand pooh-bahs of Washington insiderdom James Carville and Paul Begala (who was also, apparently, Mr. Clanton's professor at the University of Texas once upon a time.) The press release continues: "In 2002, Clanton managed the Alex Sanders for U.S. Senate campaign in South Carolina. And during the 2000 presidential campaign for Al Gore, Clanton ran the communications operation in Michigan for the Democratic Coordinated Campaign." The Ferrer camp's big Beltway hire comes, of course, as the Bloomberg campaign continues to buy up every spare political operative in New York City who hasn't been nailed down. And even some who have. So welcome to New York, Mr. Clanton. We'll see you at Mayrose.