Obama's 2012 campaign underway

Get the styrofoam columns out of storage. Politico reports that Obama's team is already working on Campaign 2010:

President Barack Obama’s top advisers are quietly laying the groundwork for the 2012 reelection campaign, which is likely to be run out of Chicago and managed by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, according to Democrats familiar with the discussions.

The planning for now consists entirely of private conversations, with Obama aides at all levels indulging occasionally in closed-door 2012 discussions while focusing ferociously on the midterm elections and health-care reform, the Democratic sources said. “The gathering storm is the 2010 elections,” one top official said.

But the sources said Obama has given every sign of planning to run again, and wants the next campaign to resemble the highly successful 2008 effort.

The usual suspects, including Mao fan-girls and experts on the tea party mentality, will be on board. The DNC smear machine is revving its engine:

The DNC sees Republican challengers ramping up earlier than ever and has decided to begin defining potential opponents early. Operatives are already assembling research and drafting unflattering narratives to push about the leading possible 2012 candidates.

No doubt dumpster-divers will be strategically placed across the country, ready to engage at the first sign of another Joe the Plumber.

I guess no one expects Hope 'n' Change to fly this time:

The themes for Obama’s campaign are not yet chosen, but a top adviser said not to expect a radical surprise: “He knows who he is."

And that's the trouble. This time around, Americans know, too. He'll have a record to defend. That might be tricky.

I guess he'll stick with Biden? The court jester thing seems to be working well enough,

Most recent posts here.