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Emanuel, Dean End Hostilities

White House lunch signals détente for former party rivals

By Gabriel Winant, Newser User

Posted Apr 17, 2009 8:16 AM CDT

(Newser) – The feud between Howard Dean and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel seems to be at an end. The Hill reports that the two Democratic pols even had lunch recently. “I think that (tension) was always somewhat exaggerated,” says Dean, whose failure to land an administration job has been chalked up to Emanuel’s influence.

The feud began as a fight over how Democrats should spend campaign money in 2006. Dean, then head of the DNC, wanted to seed weak local Democratic parties for the future. Emanuel, in charge of the effort to take Congress, wanted to hoard it for a big push for vulnerable seats. The argument escalated to the point of Emanuel storming out of Dean’s office swearing.

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (1)]

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean gestures at the conclusion of a forum about Tuesday's presidential election, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008, at the National Press Club in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel listens to President Barack Obama deliver remarks at the White House. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

Then-candidate Barack Obama, left, talks with Howard Dean, head of the Democratic National Committee, while in flight from Washington to Chicago, June 19, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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Look, we’re both very fierce competitors and very strong-minded people. But I don’t think there’s a lot of ill will between myself and Rahm Emanuel. - Howard Dean

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Emanuel, Dean End Hostilities