The Plouffe Plan That Terrifies Washington

The shy middleman who spearheaded Barack Obama's campaign now plans to morph it into a powerful netroots organization, Lisa Taddeo writes in Esquire. Drawing on his unprecedented 13-million-name contact list, David Plouffe says he will soon unveil Organizing for America, a group aimed at drumming up support for policy initiatives. Other Democratic groups fear being left out in the cold.

"It's not the Democratic party anymore," says one insider. "It's the Obama party." Others warn that Obama's campaign strategy—centrally controlled, no outside groups, no third party money—won't translate into daily grassroots organizing. Plouffe insists that he only wants to inspire political involvement: "My wildest hope is that the debate will move out of Washington" and onto people's front porches, he says.

(More David Plouffe stories.)